Associated Press - Milton Hershey School president to retire in July

Milton Hershey School president to retire in July

     HERSHEY, Pa. - The president of a school for needy children founded by chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey announced Friday that he plans to retire next year.

     Milton Hershey School President John O'Brien said he felt the school had largely accomplished his goals of increasing its enrollment, better preparing students for life after graduation, and ensuring that it fulfills its mission of serving the country's most disadvantaged children.

     O'Brien made the announcement at a school assembly and said his retirement would be effective July 31. He is a 1961 alumnus of the school, which provides free education, housing and health care to about 1,800 children.

     "My devotion, my reverence for this school, starting in 1947 until I take my last breath, will always be with the school," O'Brien said. "And so I care deeply enough about Milton Hershey and all of us to let it go."

     O'Brien was appointed president in 2003 after seven months as acting president. He arrived at the height of a long-running conflict between its alumni association and its board of directors.

     The alumni association argued at the time that the school was straying from its mission of helping children from poor and broken families and focusing too much on academically talented students looking for a hot prep school.

     The association has since repaired its relationship with the school's administrators and board of directors, association president Robert Heist said Friday.

     Heist praised O'Brien's implementation of a transitional-living program to help high-school seniors learn how to live independently and another program called Springboard Academy to help new middle school students adjust to the school.

     "He had set out a plan when he came in, and he had fulfilled that plan," said Heist, a 1982 graduate.

     Board chairman LeRoy Zimmerman said a nationwide search has begun for a new president.

     Hershey and his wife, Catherine, who were unable to have children, founded the school as the Hershey Industrial School for orphaned boys in 1909. The school now serves boys and girls is funded through a charitable trust into which Hershey poured most of his fortune.

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Information from: The Patriot-News, http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews