News: GNMP's Latschar Moves To Gettysburg Foundation As Chief

Latschar Leaving Gettysburg Park For Foundation Post, Erin James, Evening Sun, November 7, 2008.

Gettysburg National Military Park Superintendent John Latschar will leave his post on March 1, 2009 to replace Robert Wilburn as president of the nonprofit Gettysburg Foundation. Latschar was named to the post by a unanimous vote of the foundation's board of directors, the park announced today.

As president of the Gettysburg Foundation, Latschar will oversee operations of the newly opened Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. The foundation is also in the midst of a $125 million Campaign to Preserve Gettysburg, aimed at land, artifact and monument preservation and battlefield rehabilitation.

Latschar has served as superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park since 1994 and is a 31-year veteran of the National Park Service. He was named superintendent of the year for the Northeast region of the National Park Service in 1991 and has been given other honors in more recent years. Wilburn took the foundation's reins in 2000 after stepping down from his position as president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

CWL: Go to the Evening Sun wwwsite and read the first six comments from the rancorous anti-Latschar, we-don't-like-change whiners. Yes, Latschar could be imperious at times but in his heart is the battlefield, its soldiers and its civilians. As an historian, tourist, and now related to a real estate owner, I applaud Latschar and what he has accomplished.

Text Source: Evening Sun, November 7, 2008
Photo:
Gettysburg National Military Park Superintendent John Latschar speaks to a crowd during a public hearing at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center in September. The park was gathering comments on a proposal to charge $7.50 for admission into the museum.Evening Sun File Photo by Brett Berwager