(Posted May 7, 2012)

Henry H. Gibbel, chairman and CEO of Lititz Mutual Insurance Co. and former chair of the Juniata Board of Trustees, receives his honorary degree at Commencement.
Henry H. Gibbel, chairman and CEO of Lititz Mutual Insurance Co. and former chair of the Juniata Board of Trustees, receives his honorary degree at Commencement.

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Henry H. Gibbel, chairman and chief executive officer of Lititz Mutual Insurance Co. and a former chair of the Juniata College board of trustees, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Juniata College, Saturday, May 12 at 10 a.m. during Juniata's 134th commencement ceremony.

The commencement address will be given by Dr. James Madara, a Bellwood, Pa. native and chief executive officer of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Madara, a 1971 Juniata College graduate, is a nationally known expert of epithelial cell biology and gastrointestinal disease and since 2011, CEO of the largest physicians association in the country. Dr. Madara also will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. In addition, Timothy Statton, retired president of Bechtel Power Corporation and a former member of the board of directors of Bechtel Group Inc., will also receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree at the ceremony.

Henry H. Gibbel, chairman and chief executive officer of Lititz Mutual Insurance Co., in Lititz, Pa., is a 1957 Juniata graduate.

Gibbel served as chair of the Juniata board of trustees from 2001 to 2006 and received the John C. Baker Award for Exemplary Service from the board in 2006. Gibbel has served as a trustee since 1973. He also was president of the college's National Alumni Association. In 1992 he received the Juniata College Alumni Service Award. In 2005, he received Juniata's Church College Service Award.

Gibbel and his wife, Joan, sponsored in 2002 the Henry and Joan Gibbel Award for Distinguished Teaching, which recognizes excellence in teaching among faculty members who have been at Juniata College for fewer than six years. He also played a significant role in Juniata's most successful capital campaign, the Uncommon Outcomes Campaign, serving as co-chair of the Campaign for the Future. The Lititz resident was inducted into the Juniata College Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He also was chair of the college's past two presidential search committees in 1985 and again in 1997.

Gibbel is a past chairman of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and secretary/treasurer and past president of the Pennsylvania Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. He received the 1981 Distinguished Service Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. In 1974 he received the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Merit Award and served as its chair in 1982. He is a director of the Mutual Aid Association of the Church of the Brethren and past chairman and director emeritus of the Brethren Village Retirement and Healthcare Community.

He is a member of the Lititz Church of the Brethren, director of the Mutual Aid Association of the Church of the Brethren and past chairman and director emeritus for the Brethren Village Retirement & Health Care Community. He is a retired director Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. Gibbel and his wife, Joan, have two daughters, a son, and eight grandchildren. His son, Henry R. Gibbel, graduated from Juniata in 1981.

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