EXHIBIT 99


                        PEOPLES BANCORP INC. - P.O. BOX 738 - MARIETTA, OH 45750
                                                          www.peoplesbancorp.com

NEWS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2004

Contacts:  Mark F. Bradley
           President and Chief Operating Officer
           (740) 373-3155

           John G. Hock
           Senior Vice President, Commercial Lending
           (740) 653-4995


                   PEOPLES BANK TO OPEN LOAN PRODUCTION OFFICE
                              IN WESTERVILLE, OHIO
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         MARIETTA, Ohio - Peoples Bank, a subsidiary of Peoples Bancorp Inc.
(Nasdaq:PEBO), plans to establish a loan production office in Westerville, Ohio.
         The new office will focus primarily on serving the commercial credit
needs of clients in the greater Columbus area. Neal S. Clark has joined Peoples
Bank as Vice President, Commercial Lending, and will manage the office at 515
Executive Campus Drive in Westerville.
         "Expansion into central Ohio has been one of our strategies," said Mark
F. Bradley, Peoples Bank's President and Chief Operating Officer. "Westerville
and surrounding areas are economically vibrant, and we think our offices in
central Ohio are good sources of future growth."
         In addition to the Westerville office, Peoples Bank has central Ohio
loan production offices in Newark and Delaware. Full-service offices also exist
in Lancaster and Baltimore.
         "We believe loan production offices are an efficient way to enter new
markets," continued Bradley. "We are excited about the potential of the
Westerville market due to Neal's track record of growing loans and servicing
clients. In the long-term, we expect to have opportunities in those markets to
expand to more full-service offerings of financial services."
         Neal Clark joins Peoples Bank with over 15 years of financial services
experience in central Ohio, with the last 10 years dedicated to business
banking. Clark is a graduate of Miami University (Ohio) and earned an MBA from
The Ohio State University. He is on the Loan Review Committee for the Community
Capital Development Corporation and is a director of The Entrepreneurial
Institute. Clark and his family live in Lewis Center, Ohio, and are active in
Olentangy youth sports.
         The Westerville office is expected to open on or around January 1,
2005. Clark can be reached by calling 614-519-2940 or via e-mail at
nclark@pebo.com.
         Peoples Bancorp Inc., a diversified financial products and services
company with $1.8 billion in assets, makes available a complete line of banking,
investment, insurance, and trust solutions through 51 locations and 33 ATMs in
Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Peoples Bancorp's financial service units
include Peoples Bank, Peoples Financial Advisors (a division of Peoples Bank)
and Peoples Insurance Agency, Inc. Peoples Bancorp's common shares are traded on
the NASDAQ national market under the symbol "PEBO" and Peoples Bancorp is a
member of the Russell 3000 index of US publicly traded companies. Learn more
about Peoples at www.peoplesbancorp.com.

                                 END OF RELEASE