Hershey Trust Board to Get Makeover

November 15, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The board of trustees of the charitable trust that controls Hershey Foods Corp. is getting some new faces and will end up a smaller affair.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher announced that the new board will have 11 members (down from 17) and that 10 members of the old board were stepping down, according to an Associated Press news report.

The departing group includes the seven trustees who voted twice this year to put the candy maker on the block despite fierce local opposition and an eventual court fight resulting in an injunction blocking any deal. (See State Wins Order to Block Hershey Sale ).

Fisher said four of the new members would live in the Hershey, Pennsylvania area, which Fisher said could help repair relations between the community, the company, and the 93-year-old school for the disadvantaged paid for by the trust, the AP said. For the past month, a board committee, the attorney general and Senior Judge Warren Morgan sought to come up with a list of prospective new board members.

New Members

The AP said the four new board members are:

  • Raymond Gover, former publisher of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg
  • LeRoy Zimmerman, former Pennsylvania attorney general
  • Richard Lenny, Hershey Foods chief executive
  • Velma Redmond, chairman of the board of Harrisburg Area Community College.

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The board abandoned the sale September 17 in a 10-7 vote, rejecting bids from Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and a joint offer from Nestle and Cadbury about six months after they voted 15-2 to start the search for a buyer. (See  Hershey Deal Melts Away ).

The trustees said they wanted to sell the company to protect the trust’s assets, over half of which are invested in the candy maker. The central Pennsylvania town of 13,000 is named after the chocolate magnate and philanthropist Milton Hershey.

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