Jerome Snyder

Illustrator, Author, and Sports Illustrated’s first Art Director

Jerome Snyder was born on April 20, 1916, in New York, New York. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, Snyder spent two whole days at art school before dropping out. He felt their pace of instruction was too slow.

In the early 1940s, Snyder enlisted in the United States Army (apparently the Selective Service System was too slow as well). While serving as an infantryman in Europe through World War II, Snyder was promoted to captain. He spent several years teaching art to U.S. soldiers at the Army-led Biarritz American University.