After years of battling leukemia, Tom Snyder has died in San Francisco at age 71. Snyder began his career as a radio reporter in Milwaukee, then moved to TV, anchoring newscasts in Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles before getting a network show in 1972 as host of "The Tomorrow Show" on NBC, which followed "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. While interviewing guests, Snyder was almost never without his trademark cigarette, gesturing with the hand that held it as smoke swirled around the set. That made him ripe for parody by Dan Ackroyd on "Saturday Night Live." The NBC show ended in 1982, but after a few years back in local TV in NYC and LA, Snyder returned to late nights to host "The Late Late Show" on CBS from 1995 to 1999.
