Honor And Glory

Four more citrus industry stalwarts were inducted into the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame as part of the 2010 class. Earl M. “Duke” Crittenden (deceased) of Orlando, Bernard A. Egan (deceased) of Ft. Pierce, Harold B. McTeer of Winter Haven, and Howard E. Sorrells of Arcadia were scheduled to be honored for their contributions to the Florida citrus industry at a luncheon sponsored by Florida Citrus Mutual and the Florida Department of Citrus early this month at

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Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

Earl M. “Duke” Crittenden

Crittenden, former president and CEO of Crittenden Fruit Co., worked in citrus for more than 50 years — building a diversified business portfolio that included growing, harvesting, packing, processing, and trucking.

He held the chairman seat of the Republican party of Florida and fought for the industry on key issues.

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Bernard A. Egan

Egan was actively involved in the development and growth of Florida’s fresh citrus industry for more than 65 years. As former CEO of Bernard Egan & Co., he formed DNE Sales and built it to become the largest marketing agent in the U.S. of fresh Florida citrus. Egan blazed trails in the development of export markets to Japan for fresh Indian River grapefruit. He also expanded European markets for fresh Florida citrus.

Harold B. McTeer

A Haines City citrus grower, McTeer also worked as a DuPont sales representative for 27 years. He traveled the state teaching growers how to use herbicides safely and effectively in their groves. He is one of only 15 inductees in the worldwide DuPont Crop Protection Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame.

Howard E. Sorrells

Sorrells was a guiding force during export market expansion efforts and the redirection of industry marketing strategies. During his tenure as chairman of the Florida Citrus Commission, Florida orange juice sales increased by $1.5 billion per year at a time when growers were producing record crops. He also was instrumental in establishing a mechanical harvesting research program to help growers improve efficiency and reduce costs.

See complete biographies at www.floridacitrushalloffame.com.

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