Trustees Name New Treasurer

John F. Meck '33 to Succeed Halsey C. Edgerton '06, Who Announces Intention of Retiring Upon Reaching 65 Next June

THE management of Dartmouth College finances will pass to new and younger hands next July 1, when John F. Meek Jr. '33 of Washington, D. C., becomes Treasurer of the College, succeeding Halsey C. Edgerton '06, who will retire after serving as Treasurer since 1916 and as a financial officer of the College for the past 42 years.

Mr. Meck's appointment to this top administrative post was announced by the Dartmouth Board of Trustees on July 13. Although he will not assume office until July 1, he will actually join the College staff five months earlier, on February 1, as special assistant to Mr. Edger

Mr. Edgerton reaches the voluntary retirement age of 65 on June 29, 1949. After consultation with the Dartmouth trustees he announced his intention of relinquishing at that time the office which he has held for so many years and which has identified him so prominently with the administrations of President Hopkins and President Dickey. Only one of Dartmouth's treasurers was in office longer than Mr. Edgerton and no other treasurer has been so influential in the development of Dartmouth and in the affairs of the Town of Hanover. The latter activities are likely to provide Mr. Edgerton with a busy life despite his retirement from the heavy duties of Dartmouth treasurer.

NEW TREASURER HAS BROAD EXPERIENCE

Mr. Edgerton's successor will take office with an uncommonly broad knowledge of the financial management of American colleges and universities. During the war Mr. Meek was with the Bureau of Naval Personnel and had major responsibilities on the financial and legal side of the various Navy college training programs. He negotiated and administered many of the contracts for these training programs, an assignment which involved detailed studies of the financial operations of the participating institutions.

Other valuable experience for his new position was obtained in 1946 when Mr. Meek served as executive secretary of a special committee, headed by Mr. Edgerton, which developed the new faculty salary policy adopted by the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and now in operation.

Mr. Meek was Assistant Dean of the Yale Law School from 1939 to 1941 and is now associated with the Washington law firm of Douglas, Proctor, Maclntyre and Gates. Since last winter he has been devoting a large part of his time to the work of the Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, of which Herbert Hoover is chairman. He is executive secretary of the committee appointed by the Commission to study the organization of the federal government in the field of foreign affairs. He will complete this work in January, shortly before joining the Dartmouth administrative staff.

A native of Altoona, Pa., Mr. Meek took his law degree at Yale in 1936 after graduating from Dartmouth with honors. For a short time he was with the New York law firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam and Roberts and in 1937 returned to Yale Law School as assistant professor. In 1939 he was named Assistant Dean of the School and in 1941 was made Associate Professor, also being granted leave of absence to become associated with the Washington law firm of Covington, Burling, Rublee, Acheson and Shorb.

He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1943 and was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel. At the end of his regular duty in 1945 he remained for five months to serve as chief counsel for the Bureau. At the time of his discharge he held the rank of lieutenant.

Mr. Meek is married to the former Jean Anderegg of Upper Montclair, N. J. and has two children.

MR. EDGERTON'S RECORD OUTSTANDING

For Mr. Edgerton, retirement next June go will bring to an end a 33-year period during which he handled the multifarious duties of Treasurer with widely recognized distinction. Taking office in the same year as President Hopkins, he has provided wise management during years of tremendous growth in Dartmouth's financial operations. A high point in his tenure of office was the sound financial direction which he gave during the depression years.

During his 33 years as Dartmouth's treasurer, the College's annual operating budget has increased from $400,000 to more than $3,000,000 and the College's total assets have grown from $6,000,000 to $35,000,000. He has supervised the building and remodeling plans of the last quarter-century which have increased the College plant four-fold.

A native of Northfield, Vt., he spent two years at Norwich before transferring to Dartmouth in his junior year. Following his graduation in 1906 he became assistant in the treasurer's office and worked there while taking his Master's degree at Tuck School.

In 1909 he was named Auditor of the College, in 1915 Assistant Treasurer, and in 1916, Treasurer. In 1920 the functions of the Business Director were added to his responsibilities. This last office was later consolidated with the treasurer's office.

In addition to being Treasurer of the College, Mr. Edgerton has been president of the Dartmouth National Bank since 1938 and president of the Northfield (Vt.) National Bank since 1944. The latter position was held by his father and both of his grandfathers before him.

He is a director of a number of New England companies, including the New England Electric System, the Granite State Electric Company, the Connecticut River Power Company and the New HampshireVermont Hospitalization Service.

Mr. Edgerton has also been vice president and treasurer of the Hanover Water Works; treasurer of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, Twin State Airport, Inc., and the Hanover Country Club; trustee of the former Dartmouth Eye Institute; Pine Park Commissioner; trustee of trust funds for the town of Hanover; and a director of the Hanover Improvement Society.

He has also served as trustee of the Outing Club; graduate treasurer of the Athletic Council and the Council on Student Organizations; treasurer of the Graduate Club and the Class of 1906; president of the Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers and of the Hanover Rotary Club; director of the New Hampshire Tax Research Foundation; and chairman of the finance committee of the Town of Hanover.

Mr. Edgerton has been active in the Masons, having joined while a student in Tuck School. When the Bezaleel Lodge, named for Bezaleel Woodward, third treasurer of the College, was formed in Hanover in 1908, he became its secretary and five years later its master. He has also served as district officer, and as grand master of New Hampshire, the first Hanover resident to hold that office since 1826.

RETIRING TREASURER AND SUCCESSOR: Halsey C. Edgerton 06, who will end a 33-year perrod as Treasurer next June 30, shown in Hanover last month with John F. Meek Jr. '33, whom the Trustees have chosen to succeed him.