LOS ANGELES (Jan. 26) -- In-N-Out Burger chairman and chief executive H. Guy Snyder died last Dec. 4 of an accidental drug overdose, according to a Los Angeles County Coroner’s report released last week.
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 26) -- In-N-Out Burger chairman and chief executive H. Guy Snyder died last Dec. 4 of an accidental drug overdose, according to a Los Angeles County Coroner’s report released last week.
The report also said Snyder, 48, overdosed three times last year, had hepatitis B and inactive hepatitis C as a result of drug use and suffered a drug-related heart attack in 1996. He died of an overdose of the narcotic hydrocodone, a prescription painkiller commonly marketed as Vicodin, and had a history of using opiates and methadone, the report said. Snyder’s body was found in Lancaster, Calif., in the motor home where he lived outside a nephew’s home. His 80-year-old mother, Esther L. Snyder, co-founder of the pioneering drive-thru concept, has taken over leadership of the 140-unit chain, based in Irvine, Calif. Her other son, former In-N-Out president Richard Snyder, died at age 41 in a corporate plane crash six years ago.
A coroner’s spokesman said the death of Guy Snyder, who reportedly had a $2 million annual income in 1995 when he separated from his former wife, was "unusual because he was in the [circumstances] in which he was found," living in a motor home.
In-N-Out issued a statement calling Snyder’s death "a terrible tragedy" and praising his tenure as leader but declining further comment on what it said was a "family matter."
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