Neumann University will award three honorary degrees at the undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 18. The three recipients are former or current leaders of Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education.

Edward M. Snider

Past chairman of Comcast-Spectacor and founder of the Philadelphia Flyers, Ed Snider was an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a visionary in the sports and entertainment industry. Snider’s emergence as a leader in the Philadelphia sports market started in 1964 as vice president with the Philadelphia Eagles. Two years later, he mortgaged his home to establish a National Hockey League franchise as the founder of the Philadelphia Flyers.  

He later became the driving force behind essential components of Philadelphia sports: the Spectrum, PRISM, Comcast-Spectacor, and the Wells Fargo Center.

In 2005, he created Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education. This foundation provides underserved children from urban neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ, with the opportunity to learn ice hockey and life lessons. It now funds and administers programming for more than 3,000 boys and girls at nine inner-city sites.

In October of 2023, the foundation offered Neumann a challenge grant of $15 million to support the construction of the Ed Snider Ice Arena on campus.

Snider passed away in 2016. Lindy Snider, his daughter and member of the Snider Board of Directors, will accept the posthumous award on his behalf.

William C. Whitmore, Jr.

William Whitmore, Jr. currently serves as managing partner of WCW Enterprises and chairman of the board of Snider Hockey. He previously served as chairman of the board for Allied Universal and CEO and chairman of AlliedBarton Security Services, where he led the industry on critical issues such as training standards, national background checks, military hiring, and workplace violence prevention.

In 2011, he authored Potential: Workplace Violence Prevention and Your Organizational Success, a book about best practices for workplace violence prevention.

Whitmore served on the Private Sector Senior Advisory Committee of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from June 2004 through 2009. He spent nearly a decade in law enforcement before beginning his business career in 1981.

Scott Tharp has served as president and CEO of Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education since 2007. He formerly served as the executive director of Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, which has been a national model for youth enrichment programming for many years.

Tharp is currently an officer on the board of directors of the Goals & Assists Foundation, a non-profit devoted to providing post-secondary scholarships to deserving Snider students. He also is a trustee of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education Support Organization and chairman of the PTR Foundation, the charitable arm of the Professional Tennis Registry.

A veteran of the United States Coast Guard, he was inducted into the United States Tennis Association / Middle States Hall of Fame in 2015.

The three awardees will receive the Doctor of Humane Letters degree.