Regional Plan Association mourns the passing of Ken Snapp, Assistant Director of Real Estate at the Port Authority of New and New Jersey.

Ken Snapp’s friends and colleagues at RPA were saddened to learn of his passing over the holiday season. Ken embodied a rare combination of technical expertise in transportation with a sensibility about place-making and appreciation of how to work with communities. After the release of the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan and establishment of the NJ Office of Smart Growth, Ken, in partnership with his colleague Vivian Baker, launched the enormously successful Transit-Friendly Communities program at New Jersey Transit. This program implemented dozens of sustainable community design and planning initiatives, work that received national recognition and became a model for what enlightened public institutions can achieve. RPA is proud to have been one the principal partners in that effort and to work with Ken. Even in the last year of his illness, he continued to be a resource for communities, reviewing and commenting on our research.

At a time when confidence in many of our institutions has become severely eroded, Ken reminds us of what true public service means. He will be missed for his intelligence, compassion and commitment to public service.