Thomas William Sneddon Jr., a prominent Santa Barbara County district attorney and activist, died of cancer on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara.
He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Pamela Sneddon; his nine children, Matthew Sneddon and wife Julie Severson, Stephanie Sneddon and husband Steve Hanson, Christopher Sneddon and wife Kristen, Margaret Sneddon Cosio and husband Tabin, Timothy Sneddon and wife Crissy Alesii, Daniel Sneddon, Andrew Sneddon, Russell Sneddon, and Katherine Sneddon Meding and husband Trevor; 14 grandchildren; his brother, Michael Sneddon; and many nieces and nephews as well as extended family members who loved him.
Born in Southgate, Calif., on May 26, 1941, to Leona and Thomas W. Sneddon, he grew up in nearby Lynwood, where his parents owned a bakery. He served his country during the Vietnam War, and was the first of his family to graduate from college, receiving degrees from the University of Notre Dame and UC Los Angeles Law School.
He furthered his education by completing courses with the National District Attorneys Association at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
Tom had a heart for social justice, evidenced in his public and personal life. In 1982, Tom ran for and won the position of district attorney for Santa Barbara County, an office he held until retirement in 2006. He was one of the longest-tenured district attorneys in California, serving six consecutive terms, and had a wide-ranging effect on justice in Santa Barbara and beyond.
He loved his work, which he said was mainly because he had the “greatest group of people to work with in the world.”
A fierce competitor in the courtroom, he won nearly all of his hundreds of cases with a mix of preparation and quick thinking. He was deeply compassionate toward victims, and fundamentally changed how victims were treated during the judicial process, initiating new programs and protocols to lessen their trauma.
Upon his retirement, he received honors from many sources, including the president of the United States, the governor of California, and locally from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, which stated that he dedicated “energy and enthusiasm to a broad array of public protection measures that have improved the quality of life for citizens countywide.”
When Tom took the job with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, the only thing he knew of Santa Barbara was Stearns Wharf. But that didn’t last long.
Tom cared about justice and also about those who were impacted by poverty and crime. Tom quickly expanded his role in the community, joining the Jaycees almost upon arrival.
During the next decades, he became active with the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Court Appointed Special Advocates program for children, a variety of women’s shelter services, the Rape Crisis Center, the Santa Barbara Zoo, and many other agencies and organizations.
In typical fashion, he did not just go to meetings, but really participated, which even took him to the Arctic when, at age 59, Tom was part of the “Summit for Danny,” a strenuous hike to a peak on Baffin Island to raise funds to establish the Daniel Bryant Youth and Family Treatment Center, a local substance abuse treatment center for teens.
Tom taught at the College of Law-Santa Barbara and for the National District Attorneys Association and the California District Attorneys Association. He was a past president of both.
Tom was devoted to his family, who all loved his straightforward and genuine personality, a “what-you-see-is what-you get” kind of person. Integrity was all-important to him, and he would often advise his children to “do the right thing for the right reasons and let the chips fall where they may.”
He provided a family structure that enabled his children to thrive. When he worked, he worked hard, but then it was family time. He was home for dinner and weekends unless he was in the final phases of a difficult trial, or the Notre Dame football team was playing.
His family remembers the many get-togethers, often with extended family, that featured skiing, touch football games, volleyball and basketball, where many a son or daughter learned the painful lesson of keeping out of range of his flying elbows.
A member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church parish, Tom’s faith undergirded all he did. And he put it into practical action with his characteristic vigor, from boxing in the annual Bengal Bouts while at the University of Notre Dame, which raised money for mission work in India, to playing football in Bulgaria at age 51 with a Christian outreach group.
A quote from Mother Teresa that he kept on his desk reads: “Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.”
Sports were a large part of who Tom was. Perhaps the best word to describe his leadership style in all aspects of his life was that of “coach.” He was literally a coach to hundreds of local Santa Barbara boys through the Youth Football League, in which he coached teams for more than a decade.
He saw sports as an effective way to help at-risk youth. Around town he was often warmly greeted by young men he’d coached decades earlier. At work and at play, Tom expected the best from himself and was able to inspire others to strive for their best, as evidenced by comments from those who had worked with him.
One colleague said: “That was Tom, he could [ask] someone to go to hell and make them look forward to the trip.”
A lifelong athlete himself, Tom played in the Babe Ruth World Series at age 15. With his retirement from the District Attorney’s Office in 2006, golf and senior softball became a big part of his life. His softball team won the World Senior Softball Championship in 2002, and he played and managed teams up until shortly before his death.
Another lifelong passion of Tom’s was history. He often quoted one of his favorite heroes, Winston Churchill, whose words encapsulate Tom’s approach to life’s challenges: “Never give in — never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
In all his career and activities, he made and kept great friends — friends from high school, college, law school, law enforcement, community organizations, senior softball, El Pescatore Club, the Cosmopolitan Club, and many others who were dear to him. It would be impossible to list them all.
He loved his family, his work, his friends and his community. He will be missed.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Tom’s favorite charities, which include Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Santa Barbara County, the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse or the United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County.