Actress Frances McDormand howls at The Oscars in tribute to a South Jersey native, photo: Todd Wawrychuk / A.M.P.A.S

“We give this one to our Wolf,” said “Nomadland” actress Frances McDormand right before letting out a loud howl to the star-studded crowd at this year’s Oscars.

The iconic end to the Best Picture acceptance speech wasn’t a publicity stunt – it was a tribute to Moorestown native Michael Wolf Snyder, the movie’s sound mixer who died by suicide in March. He was 35. Throughout his career, Snyder’s work has been featured in more than 60 projects, including, “Good Omens,” “Rockaway” and “The Amaranth.”

His work lives on in carefully recorded sounds of the flapping-wings of swallows and crackling campfires. As McDormand put it: “Wolf recorded our heart beats. Our every breath.”