Tony Snow

Whitehouse Press Secretary 2006 - 2007

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Tony Snow served as the Press Secretary for George W. Bush from May 2006 to September 2007. In 1991, he served as Director of Speechwriting and Deputy Assistant to the President for Media Affairs for President George H. W. Bush.

He started his career in 1979 as an editorial writer for The Greensboro Record in and went on to write editorials for The Virginian-Pilot. He ran the editorial pages in both The Daily Press of Newport News and The Washington Times. He’s written nationally syndicated columns for both The Detroit News and USA Today.

Tony Snow was born in Berea, Kentucky and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father taught and was an assistant principal. His mother died of colon cancer in 1973. After graduating from high school, Snow obtained his BA in philosophy from Davidson College. He taught physics and geography in Kenya, and was a substitute teacher in Cincinnati, teaching everything from calculus to art. He also worked as an advocate for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in North Carolina.

In February 2005, Snow was diagnosed with colon cancer. In 2007, 10 months after becoming White House Press Secretary, Snow’s doctors discovered his cancer had returned. Vowing to fight the disease once again, he underwent surgery.  In April 2007, Snow resumed his White House duties and began a second round of chemotherapy treatment.

Snow is an avid musician. He plays the flute, saxophone and guitar, and belongs to a cover band, Beats Workin’.  He is married to Jill Ellen Walker. They have one son, two daughters, three dogs, a cat and three guinea pig and live in Virginia.