Colin Snedeker

Colin Snedeker died in Wichita, Kansas, on October 22, 2016, at the age of 80. He was survived by his sister, Ann Strickland.

In 2004, Snedeker, who was divorced and had no children, relocated from Pennsylvania to Wichita, Kansas, to be closer to his relatives.

Snedeker successfully developed the first washable crayon available on the market for Crayola. He was awarded the patent for the washable solid marking composition used in his washable crayons in 1990. During the later 1990s, Snedecker also won patents for fluorescent and phosphorescent marking compositions utilized in new lines of Crayolas, as well as a color-changing marking composition system for Crayola.

Colin M. Snedeker (January 5, 1936 – October 22, 2016) was a British-born American chemist best known as the inventor of the first washable crayons. Snedeker developed the washable crayon while working as a chemist for Binney & Smith, which was the parent company of Crayola crayons at the time, in response to complaints from parents and consumers. He won the patent for the washable solid marking composition utilized in the crayons in 1990. He also developed products for Kiwi shoe polish and DuPont.

Snedeker was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England on January 5, 1936. His grandfather had been killed in a fire before he was born and an English couple had adopted Snedeker's father when he was 13-years old. Colin Snedeker and his sister, Ann, were raised in England. They discovered letters from their father's birth family, who lived in Pennsylvania, in 1948, and soon were invited to visit them in the United States.