We’ll truly miss Hank Gerhold.

He was a close associate on the planning and implementation of our School’s 100th Anniversary in 2007. Hank’s central effort was his book, A Century of Forest Resources Education at Penn State, H.D. Gerhold. 2007. We shared a certain degree of team-work on this effort, but with Hank serving as central author and designer of the commemorative text. Hank also worked closely with me on the recruitment of our first Ibberson Chair in Forest Management, Dr. Harry Wiant, and in the design of two addition Ibberson Chairs, the second in Urban and Community Forestry and a third in Silviculture Research. Shortly after Hank started his book on the School, the Pennsylvania Forestry Association asked him to write a biography on Joseph E. Ibberson, which he also completed in 2007, H.D. Gerhold. A Forester’s Legacy, The Life of Joseph E. Ibberson. Following these mutual ties with Mr. Ibberson, we were asked to serve as co-executors to Joe’s Estate. With Joe’s passing in 2011, Hank and I worked closely with Etzweiler and Associates of Harrisburg toward the summary of Mr. Ibberson’s assets and distribution of his gifts to the Commonwealth’s Bureau of State Parks (a new Community Park), an endowment to the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, and endowments to the three Ibberson Chairs within the School of Forest Resources.

Over the course of the past 60-years, I’ve enjoyed the company of Hank Gerhold as a fellow faculty member and friend. During our many, many trips to and from Harrisburg, we shared our thoughts and ideas pertinent to our Families, our School and University, and our community-at-large. These exchanges shortened our trips and built common bonds that will be long remembered.

Our condolences to the Gerhold Family,

Chuck and Carol Strauss