Butler Snow attorney Gilbert C. Van Loon was inducted in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Alumni Hall of Fame on Friday, October 16 as part of the university’s Homecoming festivities. A banquet and ceremony were held in the Grand Ballroom of the Thad Cochran Center on the university’s Hattiesburg campus.
Van Loon earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from USM. He became a certified public accountant and was the recipient of the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants Silver Medal for the November 1981 CPA exam. He went on to earn his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi and a Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida.
Van Loon has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America for employee benefits law since 1999 and was named as Best Lawyer’s 2011 Lawyer of the Year for Mississippi for employee benefits law. He is a contributor to the USM Foundation and is currently serving his second term on the Board of Directors; has served as chair of the Policy and Bylaws Committee and the Investment Committee; and currently serves on the Investment Committee. He is a Life Member of the Alumni Association and an Eagle Club member.
Other members of this year’s class include: current president and CEO of The Merchants Company, Andy Mercier; Gail Megason, a tenured professor of pediatrics and the medical director for the Batson Children’s Hospital Laboratory; former Saturday Night Live Band and Blues Brothers band member, Tom “Bones” Malone; former NFL quarterback Brett Favre; Todd Buchanan, who is responsible for AIG VALIC’s southeastern operations; and Jim Borsig, the former president of Mississippi University for Women.
