New Executive Director: James Beidler

Announcing New Executive Director: James ML Beidler J AMES M. BEIDLER, a professional researcher, lecturer, and weekly newspaper columnist, has been named Executive Director of the Ge¬ nealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Beidler officially began work on 15 November 1999 after his unanimous election by the Society’s Board of Directors. He writes ‘‘Roots & Branches,” a weekly newspaper column that has appeared in The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, since July 1 998. Beidler had served on the Society’s Board of Directors since March 1999. He is also a member of the historical societies of Lebanon, Berks and Schuylkill counties, theTulpehocken Settlement Historical Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, the General Society of the War of 1812, and the advisory board for Pennsylvania German Studies at Har¬ risburg Area Community College’s Lebanon Campus. Beidler began researching his family roots in 1984 while assisting in the publication of a history book on his home church in Berks County. He started taking paid clients in 1988 and gave his first lecture on gene¬ alogy in 1991. For the last 10 years, he has been historian of the Daub Family Reunion in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, in which capacity he compiled a hardcover book on the family. Beidler was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Berks County. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, and was a copy editor for 15 years at The PatriotNews Co. in Harrisburg. He resides in Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, is married to Melanie Ann (Schaeffer), and is the father of Sarah and Katie. 132