Bri­an A. Snow, for­mer gen­er­al coun­sel emer­i­tus of the Col­orado State Uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem, died Aug. 29. He was 79.

In 1987 Snow was appoint­ed by Gov. Roy Romer to serve on the CSU system’s Board of Gov­er­nors. Snow resigned about a year lat­er to become gen­er­al coun­sel for the board and the CSU sys­tem. He served in that capac­i­ty from 1988 to 2003, work­ing close­ly with Pres­i­dent and Chan­cel­lor Albert C. Yates.

“I knew Bri­an Snow for almost 30 years, as a devot­ed hus­band and exemplary

fam­i­ly man. I remem­ber him so well in the 1990s shar­ing with me his thoughts on nation­al pol­i­tics and his world of expe­ri­ence,” said Ken Salazar, for­mer U.S. sen­a­tor and sec­re­tary of the inte­ri­or, in a writ­ten trib­ute. “I remem­ber his unequiv­o­cal love for his nation and human­i­ty and his unwa­ver­ing view that we were on a march toward a more per­fect union. I talked to him a few weeks before he passed. Bri­an was still as sharp as ever, trou­bled by the crises our nation faces, and res­olute in that we would find a bet­ter way for­ward. We will car­ry on his lega­cy in our words and deeds.”

Born Feb. 5, 1941, in Jasper, Ark., to Mayme Cordelia House Snow and Claude E. Snow, he earned a master’s degree in polit­i­cal sci­ence from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Arkansas. Snow lat­er grad­u­at­ed from the Duke Uni­ver­si­ty School of Law, where he served on the edi­to­r­i­al board of the Duke Law Journal.

Snow worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Jour­nal and served as an assis­tant dean and asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of law at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Arkansas School of Law. He prac­ticed law in Den­ver for sev­er­al years.

On May 10, 1986, Snow mar­ried Euge­nie “Crisse” Son­tag in Den­ver. She was in his arms when he died.

“Diag­nosed with mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis in his 20s, Bri­an lived his entire life ‘like he was running
out of time,’ ” said long­time friend and col­league Bill Thro in a writ­ten trib­ute. “He had an insa­tiable intel­lec­tu­al curios­i­ty. He always was read­ing three or four books, sub­scribed to five dai­ly news­pa­pers, and took the­ol­o­gy class­es at a local sem­i­nary for fun.”

Snow took cours­es toward a master’s of reli­gion degree at the Iliff School of The­ol­o­gy in Den­ver. In 1999 Snow received the Oliv­er P. Pen­nock Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Award rec­og­niz­ing mer­i­to­ri­ous and out­stand­ing achieve­ment of his con­tri­bu­tions to the uni­ver­si­ty as a fac­ul­ty mem­ber in the School of Education.

Snow was a life mem­ber of the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Attor­neys. He was a mem­ber of the edi­to­r­i­al board of the Jour­nal of Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Law and the authors com­mit­tee for the Edu­ca­tion Law Reporter.

Snow served as pres­i­dent of the Mul­ti­ple Scle­ro­sis Soci­ety of Col­orado, pres­i­dent of the Wash­ing­ton Park Unit­ed Church of Christ and as a mem­ber of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins and the Envi­ron­men­tal and Trans­porta­tion Com­mit­tee of the Den­ver Cham­ber of Commerce.

He wrote and act­ed in a pro­duc­tion of his play, “The Tri­al of Min­nie Wright,” at Bas Bleu The­ater Com­pa­ny in Fort Collins.

Snow is sur­vived by his wife, Cen­ten­ni­al; sons Andrew and Antho­ny; a broth­er, Steve; and five grandchildren.

A memo­r­i­al ser­vice will be held at a lat­er date. Memo­r­i­al con­tri­bu­tions may be made to Duke Uni­ver­si­ty Law School, Alum­ni and Devel­op­ment Office, 210 Sci­ence Dri­ve, Box 90389, Durham, NC, 27708–0389.