Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia.
Mr. Snyder, a McLean resident, was born in Trenton, N.J. He joined the White House communications staff in 1969 after 10 years as a CBS News producer and writer in New York. After leaving the White House, he was an executive with the U.S. Information Agency, a journalist at TV stations in Chicago and Cincinnati, and a senior fellow of the Annenberg Washington Program. He was the author of “Warriors of Disinformation: How Lies, Videotape, and the USIA Won the Cold War” (1995).
John Bushman, Native American specialist
John Bushman, 71, a specialist in programs for Native Americans who retired from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2002, died Jan. 29 at his home in Silver Spring, Md. The cause was lung cancer, said his wife, Naomi Goldstein.
Mr. Bushman was born in Bozeman, Mont., and was a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. He came to Washington in 1987 and worked at the U.S. Interior Department and as a Senate staff member before joining HHS in 1995. He retired as director of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Claire Monderer, artist and volunteer
Claire Monderer, 87, an artist who won awards for her paintings at Northern Virginia Art League shows and also was a docent at the Hirshhorn Museum and at American University’s Katzen Arts Center, died Jan. 27 at a senior living community in Bethesda, Md. The cause was pneumonia, said a daughter, Rachel Monderer.
Mrs. Monderer was born Claire Weiss in Brooklyn and was a New York City public school teacher before moving to the Washington area in 1958. For 25 years, she was also a volunteer at Sibley Memorial Hospital.
— From staff reports
