US fresh produce innovator Jack Pandol Senior has passed away at his home in California aged 87.
The former head of US table grape grower, packer and exporter Pandol Brothers Inc died on 4 August after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Jack served in the US Army during World War II, seeing combat in the Philippines and serving in the occupational forces in Japan after the war.
After returning home to Delano, California, Jack and his brothers, Matt and Steve, set about growing their company. He was a driving force and a true innovator in the produce industry and in the 1950s he began direct sales to retailers, a radical departure from the terminal market auctions of the era.
In the 1960s, Jack loaded the first refrigerated trucks cross country, bypassing rail travel. By the 1970s he had established a foothold in export markets, using airfreight, traditional refrigerated ships and innovative ocean containers for both import and export. He also pioneered the importing of Chilean fruit, providing year round supplies in US stores.
Last year Jack received the Bernardo O'Higgins Presidential Order of Merit from the Chilean government, the country's highest award for foreign citizens. The Chilean Exporter's Association and the US Produce Marketers Association both awarded him lifetime achievement awards.
Jack is survived by his wife of 62 years Winifred, daughter Maria, and sons Stephen, Jack and Jim.
Produce Marketing Association (PMA) president and ceo Bryan Silbermann said: “All of us at PMA were greatly saddened to learn this week of the death of longtime produce industry leader Jack Pandol, Sr. Jack's passing is very personal to me because he was the PMA director who took me under his wing when I joined PMA as international trade manager back in 1983.
“Jack was an industry pioneer and an industry leader who left his mark on the way many of us do business today. He led the way in creating and expanding the produce trade between the United States and Latin America as well as Asia, led in turn by a customer-focused vision of providing a bounty of produce to consumers year-round. Perhaps most of all, I'll remember Jack as a man who never learned the meaning of "no", who always returned to a challenge and found a way to do what others couldn't - or wouldn't - try. He did this by sharing his vision, by letting others in to see a world in the making that they might not have seen for themselves.”
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