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Rusty Sneiderman and his wife Andrea with their two children. Family members have set up Facebook and Twitter accounts to seek information on Sneiderman’s killer. Photo from Facebook

When Russell “Rusty” Sneiderman was gunned down after taking his child to school, a “big dreamer” was snuffed out, his brother said during a press conference after the killing.

My “whole family has lost its brightest light and we don’t know why,” said Steve Sneiderman, the victim’s brother. And that is why the Sneidermans put up $10,000 of their own money to help catch the killer.

Sneiderman said his brother had “such a giving heart,” which he shared by volunteering with various charitable organizations.

From 2004-07, Rusty Sneiderman served on the board of the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation (OIF), a non-profit organization whose goal is to improve the quality of life for people with osteogenesis imperfecta, a congenital bone disease.

“He was a very thoughtful and professional man,” said Erika Ruebensaal, associate director for marketing and communications at OIF. Ruebensaal said Sneiderman has not worked with OIF since 2007.

Sneiderman also served on the board of the greater Georgia chapter of the Autism Society of America, and the steering committee for Wish For Wendy, benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Steve Sneiderman said his brother “would do anything for anybody…. He was always there for everybody. He wanted the best for everyone.”

“He was an absolutely wonderful person,” said Rabbi Analia Bortz of the Congregation Or Hadash synagogue, where Sneiderman attended.

Sivan Ariel, who also attended the synagogue with Sneiderman, wrote a song in memory of his life because she felt his death “personally” even though they were not personal friends. “I felt compelled to write the song,” Ariel said. “I guess it was a soul connection thing,” Ariel said.

In her song “Your Memory Lingers on,” Ariel described Sneiderman as a “man of brilliance taken from us too young.” He was also “a great and loving father” and “the epitome of a family man,” Ariel said in her song.

Sneiderman’s friend Reggie Grandpierre agreed that “family life was very important to him,” adding that Sneiderman had a “good relationship with his parents.” Grandpierre owns a residential cleaning business, Total Maintenance, which Sneiderman used for about eight years to clean his home.

Grandpierre said Sneiderman was mild-mannered, articulate and always interested in how Total Maintenance was doing, often offering insights in how to grow the business, Grandpierre said. Although Grandpierre “never saw him socially or outside the confines of his home,” Grandpierre said he had a “very deep relationship” with Sneiderman.

Grandpierre said he is baffled by Sneiderman’s murder. “It doesn’t compute with what I know of him. It has all the characteristics of a professional hit.”

Sneiderman worked for the Innova Group, then as a vice president at JP Morgan Private Client Services, according to his profile on the Linked-In Web site. Sneiderman worked as Discovery Point Child Development Centers at its chief operating officer from January 2009 to about April 2010, according to a company spokesman. He left to “pursue other business ventures,” the spokesman said.

An entrepreneur, Sneiderman, who earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, has three companies listed with the office of the Georgia secretary of state. Crimson Transaction Specialists was started in 2008 and its registration was renewed in March 2010. According to its Web site, Crimson Transaction “specializes in mergers and acquisitions of companies with $30 million to $300 million in annual revenue.” No one could be reached from Crimson Transaction, with one office at 4780 Ashford Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody and one in Chicago. A second company, Sneiderman Consulting, was formed in May 2010.

And in September, he joined two others in starting Star Voicemail. According to its profile on the Linked-In Web site, this is a company that “offers custom voice mail greetings featuring notable sports, movie, music and TV personalities.” The profile also says its “website partners average over 400 million hits per month.” The company’s Web site at www.starvoicemail.com is under construction and Sneiderman’s two business partners listed with the secretary of state could not be reached after multiple phone calls.

Police said that while Sneiderman was getting into his car to leave his child’s school, a gunman approached him and fired several shots, striking Sneiderman multiple times. Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan said the two did not appear to have spoken to each other. Witnesses told police the suspect fled the scene in a silver Dodge Caravan with no license plate, and was last seen traveling westbound on Mt. Vernon Parkway.

Police said there were several witnesses and the suspect is described as a White male, in his 30s, approximately 5-foot-10. He was wearing a hoodie or stocking cap. The suspect is described as having a beard, although police said it is possible that it was fake.

Sneiderman is survived by a wife, Andrea, and two children, a son and a daughter.

“My niece and nephew will never know their father,” his brother said. “No one should have to face that.”

The Dunwoody Police Department has implemented a Internet-based program that allows residents to leave anonymous tips online or via a text message. The program, called Tipsoft, is available by accessing the department’s Web site at ww.dunwoodypolice.com. To send a tip via message, a person can text DPDTIPS and the message” to 274637 (CRIMES).