HARRISBURG (May 28, 2004) � The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) recently presented Greensburg lawyer H. Reginald Belden Jr. with the Pennsylvania Bar Medal during the association�s annual meeting May 13-15 in Hershey. This was only the eighth presentation of the Bar Medal in the 110-year history of the association.

The Pennsylvania Bar Medal, the highest honor conferred by the PBA, may be awarded to any member of the association whose efforts have resulted in significant improvement in the administration of justice or the legal profession or who has performed outstanding service to the association, the profession or the community in general. The medal may be awarded only by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the total membership of the PBA Board of Governors.

�Today, we honor an individual who, through decades of selfless service to the bar and the legal profession, will take his rightful place among great legal legends,� then-PBA President Thomas M. Golden said. �Reg is the only Pennsylvania lawyer who can lay claim to the fact that his father served as the Westmoreland County Bar and PBA president, his mother served as president of the Westmoreland, Pennsylvania and American Bar Lawyers� Auxiliaries, and he served as Westmoreland County and PBA president. He is, indeed, from the royal family of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.�

Earlier this year, the Conference of County Bar Leaders presented the prestigious Gilbert Nurick Award to Belden for his dedication and service to the leadership and promotion of the organized bar and its activities.

Belden is a past president of the PBA and also served as the zone six governor on the PBA Board of Governors and as chair of the PBA House of Delegates. He is a past chair of the PBA Young Lawyers Division and chair of the PBA Centennial Celebration. In addition, Belden was the first chair of the PBA Professional Liability Committee and has headed more than ten PBA committees throughout the years. In 1986, Belden served as president of the Westmoreland Bar Association and worked to foster cooperative relations between the local bar associations and the PBA.

A former president of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law Alumni Association, Belden is a member of the American College and Westmoreland Academy of Trial Lawyers, a trustee of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Historical Society and a life fellow of the American and Pennsylvania Bar foundations.

Belden is an active member of the Greensburg community and served as president of the Westmoreland Symphony and Westmoreland Society. He also was the vice chair of the Westmoreland Trust and the vice president of the Greensburg Area Cultural Council.

Belden is a graduate of Lafayette College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He and his wife, Janie, reside in Greensburg with their son, John.