Richard Snyder, ‘warrior-king’ of publishing who presided over rise of Simon & Schuster, dead at 90

Richard Snyder, a visionary and imperious executive at Simon & Schuster who presided over the publisher’s exponential rise during the second half of the 20th century and helped define an era of growing corporate power, has died. He was 90. During Snyder’s reign, bestsellers included Mary Higgins Clark’s crime thrillers and Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.” Snyder was also an early advocate for electronic publishing and vastly expanded Simon & Schuster’s scope by spending more than $1 billion on acquisitions. The company's revenues multiplied from around $40 million annually in the 1970s to more than $2 billion by the mid-1990s.