As president and principal attorney with R. Connor & Associates, Robert Heist is originally from the Philadelphia, PA area and has more than 30 years of experience in the law with practices in Illinois, Massachusetts and Minnesota. To this day, he relishes his time at Milton Hershey School where he spent from 2nd to 12th grade. As a Manager at the school and former Chairman of the Board of Managers for Milton Hershey School and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hershey Trust Company, attorney Robert Heist got the perfect opportunity to give back through the Milton Hershey School Trust and one of its affiliated entities, The M.S. Hershey Foundation, on which Mr. Heist also served on the Board of Directors.
Founded in 1935, the M.S. Hershey Foundation provided educational and cultural opportunities for Derry Township, Pennsylvania residents via a junior college, medical center, a recreational center and an educational and cultural institution. The Foundation would later hand over the recreational center operations to Derry Township Board of Supervisors in 1979. In 1970, the Foundation took over the operations of the Hershey Theatre. Further expansion to support the mission in Derry includes the Hershey Community Archives, Hershey Gardens, and the Hershey Museum, later converted to The Hershey Story in 2009.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, contributions are tax-exempt. Donations are accepted in many forms and include cash, securities, real estate, bequests, charitable remainder trusts, and retirement plans. You can either donate to the foundation as a whole or designate that funds go to the foundation’s program of choice.
