Hershey News 1956-08-02

              HERSHEY NEWS
Vol. 4 HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA, AUGUST 2, 1956 No. 31
Announce Results Of
Reorganization Here
Passing Of P. A. Staples Causes
Administrative Changes In Four
Key Hershey Organizations
Administrative changes in four key Hershey organiza-tions
were announced last Thursday after a series of meet-ings
to fill vacancies caused by the death on July 23 of
Percy A. Staples, chief executive of the Hershey companies
and the Milton Hershey School.
Elected to the post of Chairman of the Board of Man-agers
of the Milton Hershey School was D. Paul Witmer,
who was vice-chairman at the time of Staples' death.
Hershey Estates President John B. Sollenberger was
elected President of the Hershey Trust Company, which
acts as trustee for the Milton Hershey School.
General Sales Manager J. J. Gallagher was elected Chair-man
of the Board of Directors of the Hershey Chocolate
Corporation.
Samuel F. Hinkle, Plant Manager, was chosen as Her-shey
Chocolate Corporation President.
These, and other resultant changes, were effective at
once.
Vacant directorships were filled also. Joseph S. Gumpher
was elected to the Board of Managers and to the Board of
Directors of the Hershey Trust Company. The Board of the
Hershey Chocolate Corporation was filled with the election
of Sollenberger as a director.
Two new vice-presidencies were established during
the election at the Hershey Chocolate Corporation.
Named to the posts were L. W. Majer and William
E. Schiller. Majer has been assistant to the late Presi-dents
William F. R. Murrie and P. A. Staples, and Schil-ler
is the chief accounting and financial officer of the
corporation.
A similar move took place at a Hershey Estates
election, where T. R. Banks and James E. Bobb were
eketed vice-preidents — two newly created_ posi-tions.
Bobb is administrator of the Hershey Farms and,
with P. N. Hershey, has been responsible for the Farms
program for many years. Banks is manager of the Her-shey
Extraction Plant and the Soap Division, and is a
trustee of Lafayette College.
Witmer, the newly elected Chairman of the Board of
Managers, has had close association with the management
of the Milton Hershey School since 1938, and is a former
superintendent of the school. He is manager of Hershey
Lumber Products.
Sollenberger, new President of the Hershey Trust Com-pany,
has long been associated with the Hershey companies
and has been President of the Hershey Estates for the past
seven years.
Gallagher, new Chairman of the Board of the Hershey
Chocolate Corporation, has been General Sales Manager
for the past twelve years and was Assistant Sales Manager
for the previous twenty-four years.
Hinkle, the Chocolate Corporation's new President, has
been associated with Hershey since 1924, when he joined the
organization as chief chemist and director of research. He
has been Plant Manager since 1947.
Board of Managers
At the election of the Board of Managers of the Milton
Hershey School, James E. Bobb was named Vice-Chairman.
Gumpher — a 1935 graduate of the school — was named
treasurer, and Arthur R. Whiteman, the first Milton Her-shey
School graduate ever to serve on the Board of Man-agers,
continued in the post of secretary. Whiteman was
graduated from the school in 1927.
Hershey Trust Company
At the Hershey Trust Company meeting, Whiteman
was elected Vice-President, succeeding D. Paul Witmer who
resigned in the light of his new duties as Chairman of the
Board of Managers. Whiteman was also named to continue
as Trust Company Secretary and Trust Officer.
Gumpher was elected a director and treasurer and re-tains
the posts of Assistant Secretary and Assistant Trust
Officer.
Elected as Assistant Treasurer was John T. Shuey, head
of the Trust Company's bookkeeping department.
Complete Boards
Complement of the Board of Managers following the
election meeting:
T. R. Banks, J. E. Bobb, William H. Earnest, J. J.
Gallagher, Joseph S. Gumpher, P. N. Hershey, Samuel F.
Hinkle, John B. Sollenberger, Arthur R. Whiteman, D. Paul
Witmer, and Charles F. Ziegler.
The Hershey Chocolate Corporation Board:
J. J. Gallagher, P. N. Hershey, S. F. Hinkle, L. W. Majer,
W. H. Radebaugh, W. E. Schiller, J. B. Sollenberger and D.
Paul Witmer.
what might have been tragedy
when the Thomas Gramigni
family of Hershey was re-united
after the sinking of
the luxury liner Andrea Doria
off Nantucket Island.
The family learned only
Friday morning that Mrs.
Gramigni had been rescued
by the Swedish motorship
Stockholm. All day Thurs-day
she had been unaccount-ed
for among the survivors.
Rescued earlier from the
sinking vessel were her hus-band,
Thomas, a Hershey
Chocolate Corporation em-ployee;
her daughter, Dolores,
11; and Mr. Gramigni's fa-ther,
Ottivo, 75, a retired
Chocolate Corporation em-ployee.
They were picked up
by the French liner Ile de
France.
The sea mishap only a short
distance from New York har-bor
marred an otherwise
grand vacation in Italy for
the four Gramignis. The har-rowing
climax to the trip
came when the Andrea Doria
and the Stockholm collided
last Wednesday night in one
of the worst such sea disas-ters
in history.
From . 3 sinking Andrea
Doria, the four Gramignis
were separated as they were
forced to board three differ-ent
lifeboats. Mrs. Gramigni
was picked up by the battered
Stockholm, which could pro-ceed
to port at only two knots
per hour. During this time she
. • .
Hershey's Gramiani Family --- Reunited
It was a happy ending to was subjected to another she told the Hershey News.
The Gramignis sailed for
their "once in a lifetime" Eu-ropean
vacation on May 29
aboard the Christopher Co-lumbus,
sister-ship of the ill-fated
Andrea Doria, and sail-ed
for home July 17 on the
Andrea.
"It was a perfect trip —
until the very last," Mrs.
Gramigni said.
The word that Mrs. Gramig-ni
was safe aboard the Stock-holm
was received here Friday
morning by Mrs. Ernest Ac-corsi,
69 West Areba Avenue,
sister of Mrs. Gramigni. The
Gramignis live at 57 West
Areba.
The elder Gramigni and his
granddaughter had returned
(Continued on Page Two)
frightening experience as the
crippled ship limped through
a violent thunderstorm.
The family lost all their
summer clothing in the sea
disaster, in addition to mem-entoes
of their trip and a num-ber
of gifts intended for other
family members. An amount
of cash was also lost with
their luggage.
Mrs. Gramigni agreed with
the U. S. Coast Guard's ex-pression
that the collision and
sinking were "incredible."
"Even when the Andrea
Doria was going down, with
me on the deck, I couldn't be-lieve
that this was happening
in the Twentieth Century,"
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