KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Dr. William “Bill” Thomas Snyder, a beloved former chancellor of the University of Tennessee and lifelong champion of education and the arts, died peacefully Monday morning at age 93 after a brief illness.

Snyder began his career at the UT Space Institute in the early 1960s as an engineering professor. He went on to serve as dean of the College of Engineering and was named chancellor in 1993. He retired from the university in 1999.

His daughter, Edye Snyder, said the man known for his love of theater passed away peacefully at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center while listening to music.

Snyder was a lifelong music lover and keyboardist. From early piano lessons to years of playing the organ at Washington Presbyterian Church in Corryton, the same church where he marri

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