Fred Marshall, a pioneering fruit grower in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia died earlier this month aged 86.

Marshall served on the board of the Kelowna Growers Exchange and was also president of British Columbia Tree Fruits and Sunrype.

He was a second-generation grower following in the footsteps of his father LE Marshall who began with a small acreage in 1912. Fred Marshall graduated from the University of British Columbia with honours degrees in agriculture and business and in 1947 started buying orchards until he owned, in partnership with his brothers, 500 acres at several different sites.

Described by one of his sons as an eternal optimist, he offered years of service to the Canadian fruit-growing industry and was gifted with both intellectual prowess and great practical skills.

Tom Browne formerly a director with both Waveney Apple growers and then Norfolk Fruit Growers in East Anglia before his retirement in 2001 paid tribute: “In the 1960s for almost eight years I was employed by Fred Marshall. I kept in touch with him ever since and count him as one of the influences in my business life. Those who knew Fred recall a person of great kindness and integrity and count it as a privilege to have known him.”

Fred Marshall is survived by his wife of 57 years Dorothy, two daughters Sheila and Wendy, and two sons David and Alan who continue the tradition of Canadian fruit growing.