Video by Pam Stevenson, Agave Productions Inc., for Historical League
Frank Snell was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1899. He graduated from the University of Kansas with a J.D. in 1924. Coming to Miami, Arizona at the invitation of an uncle, he subsequently opened a small law practice in the Globe-Miami area. He and his wife moved to Phoenix in 1927, where he continued to practice law in a group that later became the firm, Snell & Wilmer.
Mr. Snell has been involved in almost all aspects of the growth of Phoenix as a city. As a member of the Phoenix 40, he was a quiet but significant force behind Phoenix’s most dynamic growth period.
Mr. Snell helped in founding the Graduate School of International Management and the Arizona Stock Show. He was instrumental in returning to Arizona the control and management of Central Arizona Light and Power Company, now known as Arizona Public Service, and at the age of seventy-two, he was elected Chairman of the Board.
Elected “Man of the Year” in 1966 by the Phoenix Advertising Club, Frank Snell has earned awards from many segments of the community for his devotion to the progress and cultural development of Phoenix. He has been a partner in many other ventures and has had a lifelong interest in the Boy Scouts of America. His chairmanship of a campaign to obtain fountains and cultural gifts valued at approximately $500,000 for the Phoenix Civic Plaza is but one example of his energetic leadership.
