LeRoy S. Zimmerman says he won't seek reelection to Hershey Co. board

LeRoy S. Zimmerman, head of the multibillion-dollar charity that controls the Hershey Co., will not stand for reelection to the company's board of directors, according to a regulatory filing by the company.

The candy company said Zimmerman told it of his decision on Feb. 3. The company's annual stockholders meeting is scheduled for April 28.

Hershey Co. spokesman Kirk Saville said Wednesday he had no comment beyond what was in the regulatory filing. Zimmerman could not be reached through his Harrisburg law office or the Hershey Trust Co., which manages the Hershey charity's $7 billion in assets. The largest of those assets is its controlling stake in the candy company.

Zimmerman's decision not to seek reelection follows stories in The Inquirer regarding directors' compensation on the charity's complex of boards and questionable spending related to real estate deals.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office disclosed in October that it had launched an investigation into the Hershey charity's purchase of the money-losing Wren Dale golf course in 2006.

A part-owner of the golf course was Richard Lenny, then chief executive of the Hershey Co. Lenny did not disclose to the Hershey Trust board that he was a part-owner in the Wren Dale course when it was bought for a figure well above its appraised value to be used for possible future expansion of the Milton S. Hershey School, trust officials have said.

The Hershey School is the nation's largest school for disadvantaged children and one of the wealthiest charities in Pennsylvania. It was endowed with the fortune of Milton and Catherine Hershey.

Zimmerman, 76, a former two-term Pennsylvania attorney general, joined the Hershey Co. board in November 2007 with two other members who also sit on the main trust board - James Nevels and Robert Cavanaugh. They remain on the company board.

According to the Hershey charity's latest nonprofit filing with the Internal Revenue Service, Zimmerman was paid $499,996 for serving on three Hershey-related boards in 2009. One of those seats was with the Hershey Co. board, which paid $200,000. He remains on two of the three Hershey boards, as chairman of the Hershey Trust Co. and as a director of the Hershey Entertainment & Resort Co.