Friday, June 26, was a special one for Milton Snegaroff, a resident of Cherry Hill for 59 years, as he and his family celebrated his 100th birthday.
He was born at Bellevue Private Hospital in Camden City on June 26, 1926, to Jacob and Fanny Snegaroff – the owners of Snegaroff’s Grocery Store on the corner of King and Powell streets in Gloucester City.
“I have so many good memories of all the good friends I made growing up in Gloucester City,” said Snegaroff, who grew up in his family’s home above the store. “One thing I really enjoyed was that I was the sports manager for Gloucester City High School’s football and basketball teams.
“I would help the coach set up the field for football games, and other things like that. Another thing I loved was that there was a gentleman who came around in a truck a couple of times a week selling hot waffles for maybe two or three cents each. They were delicious,” said Snegaroff, who graduated with the Class of 1944.
“He’s been a customer of the same barbershop in Gloucester City for his entire life. Milt lived next door to legendary barber Frank Anello in Gloucester City,” said his daughter-in-law, Jenny Snegaroff. “Milt had his hair cut by Frank (at Frank’s Barbershop) until Frank’s death. Then Frank’s nephew took over the barbershop and renamed it Gentlemen’s Den. Milt continued to go to Gentlemen’s Den until just a few years ago, when it became more convenient to cut his hair at home.
“Milt attributes his long life to regular walks, especially around the Cherry Hill Mall, and to having wonderful parents, a fantastic wife, loving children, and five grandchildren, Darah, Alyssa, Leila, Ava, and Isaac,” she said. “We’ll all be helping him celebrate his 100th birthday.”
“I walked five miles every morning at the mall,” said Snegaroff, who is looking forward to the celebration. “It definitely helped get me to this old age. I don’t feel like I’m 100 because I have such good memories of my friends and family.”
After graduation he served as a Yeoman in the U.S. Navy from 1944-1946, at the end of World War II. Snegaroff was stationed first in San Diego and then at Treasure Island in San Francisco, where he worked with sailors returning from the War, processing them to go home.
“I was very honored to serve in the Navy – both in San Diego and at Treasure Island. I was disappointed at the time that I never saw combat. My older brother Aaron was already serving in the Navy on a ship in the Pacific, and he saw battle, Snegaroff said.
“It was considered a badge of honor to have been involved in actual fighting. When I was drafted at age 18, they found out that I could type and they put me in the materials area. Interestingly, some of my friends and classmates from Gloucester City High School actually came through Treasure Island when coming home from Japan, and I processed their paperwork,” he continued.
“It was kind of ironic that they chose me for the Navy because I couldn’t swim. We lived right across the street from the city park in Gloucester, and there was a pool there,” he remembered. But I was always a little nervous about swimming. When I joined the Navy and they heard I couldn’t swim, they just chucked me right in the water.”
After the War, Milt returned to South Jersey, settling in Camden. He attended the Columbia Institute, a business school in Philadelphia, on the GI bill. He studied Radio Broadcasting and met the love of his life, Elaine (nee Leber), a secretarial student at the school.
“We were married at the Chapel of Four Chaplains at Temple University in Philadelphia. At the time, I was working at WWBZ Radio and they were kind enough to finance our honeymoon in Miami,” he said.
“I loved being a DJ and played a lot of popular music of that era, especially Frank Sinatra. My wife Elaine and I were able to see a lot of great performances in Atlantic City and Philadelphia during those days, including Sinatra and Harry Belafonte.
“For me, though, the real highlight was when I transitioned from being a DJ to ad sales. That’s because I met so many good people when I was in sales, and I became very close to my clients,” he said. “The majority of them were car dealerships, restaurants, and other local businesses. I did a bit of everything in that job. I sold the ad time, wrote the ad copy, recorded the ads, and collected the money.”
Milton and Elaine Snegaroff had two children, Gary and Susan. In 1967, the family bought a house in Cherry Hill in the brand-new Barclay Farms development, and have lived in the same home on Fenwick Road ever since.
Mrs. Snegaroff went on to become a beloved kindergarten teacher at Joseph D. Sharp Elementary School in Cherry Hill, where she taught for 29 years, and is now 95 years old, his daughter-in-law said. “Gary and Susan both graduated from Cherry Hill High School East.”
The family gathered to celebrate 100 years of life well-lived by Milton Snegaroff, a South Jersey legend in his own right.
