Entrepreneur Don Snellman, 75 -- Collator Mogul Famed For IBM Suit, Gifts

Don Snellman, an entrepreneur whose international firm Norfin held important patents for paper-collating machines, liked to keep a low profile.

The burly native of Astoria, Ore., who attended Seattle's old Broadway High School, had guarded his privacy since going into business at age 15. He came to own land in Seward, Alaska, and Berlin as well as Seattle's Pier 89 and acreage near the Kingdome.

But he gave up his privacy in the late 1970s with a successful $7.5 million lawsuit against IBM for patent infringement on one of his paper-collating ideas.

"The settlement was actually a lot larger, but I don't want to say how much," said his daughter, Cynthia Snellman of Seattle.

He earned headlines in the early 1980s for his large donations to Seattle Pacific University as well as for his reported interest in buying the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

That attempt, combined with other issues set forth by opposing groups, delayed for two years implementation of the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) between The Seattle Times and the P-I.

The agreement allows The Times and P-I to produce editorially separate newspapers with advertising, printing and distribution handled by The Times.

Mr. Snellman died Sept. 21 of cancer. He was 75.

In late 1981, the JOA between Seattle's newspapers had been all but approved by the U.S. Justice Department. Then Mr. Snellman, who had business ties to former P-I publisher Dan Starr, said he was interested in buying the P-I.

The JOA was to be allowed only if no bona fide buyer could be found for what was considered an ailing P-I.

The JOA was approved in mid-1982. But opponents, partly citing Mr. Snellman's interest in buying the P-I, filed suit in U.S. District Court, which overturned the approval. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals finally approved the JOA in April 1983, and JOA operations commenced in May.

On the philanthropic front, Mr. Snellman, whom his daughter called "aggressive" and "difficult," donated $500,000 to Seattle Pacific University's School of Business and Economics.

It was the largest single donation ever accepted by SPU. He also endowed a chair of entrepreneurship.

He'd hatched big dreams growing up as the son of a longshoreman and his wife in Seattle, where the family moved from Astoria.

Working as a parking attendant, he met a cannery owner who told him he could earn enough working for one summer in Alaska to buy a big car.

Mr. Snellman caught a steamer north. Unable to find a cannery job, he worked as a railroad gandy dancer and airline mechanic, then opened a car-repair shop. By the time he was 17, he owned several acres in Seward.

He served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II.

Back in Seattle, he worked as a manufacturer's representative in the nuclear/defense industry. When companies would not offer a product to suit customers, he designed it and farmed out the manufacturing. One of his inventions was a collating machine for short-run presses.

He eventually formed his own manufacturing and distribution firm for printing presses and collators, with plants in Seattle and Berlin.

His multimillion-dollar business jumped after he won the IBM suit.

The past decade, with the rapid change of trade and manufacturing conditions in Berlin, his empire began to unravel. He had to divest himself of his holdings.

"But I think if he were still here, he'd be trying to put it back together," said his daughter. "He wasn't afraid to take a risk."

Also surviving are his brother, Robert Snellman of Bainbridge Island, and former wife Norine Cross of Seattle.

No service will be held. Donations may go to the American Cancer Society, 2120 First Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109.

Carole Beers' e-mail address is: cbeers@seattletimes.com