Penn State's Dickinson School of Law welcomes new Board Chair

Penn State's Dickinson School of Law welcomes new Board Chair

Carlisle, Pa. -- The first elected attorney general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the new chair of the Board of Governors of Penn State University’s Dickinson School of Law.

LeRoy S. Zimmerman succeeds Delaware attorney Donald C. Taylor, who had led the board since 1998. Zimmerman is senior counsel of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC and a member of the boards of Select Medical Corporation, the Milton Hershey School, Hershey Trust Company and the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts.

"The board's challenge will be to preserve the mission of Dickinson while serving as fiduciaries," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman, a 1959 graduate of the Law School, was the district attorney of Dauphin County from 1965 to 1980 before his election to attorney general, a position he held from 1981 to 1989. Following his term as attorney general, he became a partner at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, where he served as chairman of the Board of Directors from 1994 to 2000.

Throughout the course of his career, Zimmerman has been actively involved in various professional and community initiatives and organizations. He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; co-chair of the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus; trustee of the Hall Foundation; council member of the Pennsylvania Society; past chair of the Criminal Law Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General and the Federal-State Executive Working Group for Prosecutorial Relations; past president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association; former member of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee and the Judiciary Planning Committee of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; and former member of the House of Delegates of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

A long-time supporter of Penn State Dickinson, Zimmerman previously served as vice chair of Penn State Dickinson’s Board of Governors and was a member of the capital campaign committee. He received the school’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 1982 and was recognized in 1989 with an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Zimmerman’s professional achievements and commitment to community have been recognized by civic and professional organizations on numerous occasions, and in June of 2002, he received the prestigious Francis X. Bellotti award, presented by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) in recognition of the contributions he made to the Commonwealth and NAAG. In 1998, the Keystone Area Council Boy Scouts of America named its Eagle Scout Class in Zimmerman’s honor.

Zimmerman received his undergraduate degree from Villanova University. He is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and Dauphin County Bar Associations and is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania. Zimmerman and his wife, Mary A. Jaymes, have three children: Susan Zimmerman Seitz; Mark Zimmerman; and Amy Zimmerman Freed.