(Posted May 2, 2001)

-- News Release -- Henry H. Gibbel, president and chief executive officer of Lititz Mutual Insurance Company has been named chairman of the Juniata College Board of Trustees for a five-year term at the College’s annual spring board meeting April 21.

Gibbel, a 1957 Juniata graduate, also is president, chief executive officer and director of Penn Charter Mutual Insurance Co., Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Mutual Insurance Co., Livingston Mutual Insurance Co., and president of Excess Reinsurance Co. The Gibbel family has provided leadership to Lititz Mutual since 1892 where Gibbel has lead the company since 1959.

Gibbel’s grandfather, father and son (all also named Henry) graduated from Juniata College. Henry H. Gibbel, his father and grandfather all served on the college’s board of trustees. All three also were named chairman of the college's board. Gibbbel has served as a trustee since 1973. He also is the third Henry Gibbel to serve as president of the college’s National Alumni Association, having served in 1972. In 1992 he received the Juniata College Alumni Service Award.

The Lititz resident was inducted into the Juniata College Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He has taken a lead role in fulfilling the mission of Juniata College by serving in a variety of volunteer posts. He has served on the President’s Development Council and as chair of the Founders Club. He also was chair of the college’s past two presidential search committees in 1985 and again in 1997.

In 1969 he served as chair of the Pennsylvania Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and received their Distinguished Service Award in 1981. In 1974 he received the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Merit Award and served as its chair in 1982. Gibbel was named Insurance Person of the Year by the Professional Insurance Agents Association of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware in 1988.

He is moderator and a deacon in the Lititz Church of the Brethren, has served on the board of Brethren Village Retirement Community since 1969, and has served as board chair since 1992. He serves on the board of directors of several Lititz area businesses, most notably Susquehanna Bancshares, Farmers First Bank, and Valley Forge Asset Management Corporation in Valley Forge, Pa.
Gibbel lives in Lititz with his wife, Joan. The couple has three children, Henry R., a 1981 Juniata College graduate; Kathy Jo, a 1983 graduate of Duke University; and Mary Beth, a 1986 graduate of the University of Richmond; and 8 grandchildren.

Juniata College is an independent, coeducational College of liberal arts and sciences, founded in 1876 by members of the Church of the Brethren to prepare individuals "for the useful occupations of life." Current student enrollment is 1300.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.