Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Picks 3 for Class of 2022
December 14, 2021 The selection committee for the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame has announced three more distinguished industry leaders and influencers will be inducted into the prestigious Hall, representing the Class of 2022.
George F. Hamner, Jr. will be the 200th member inducted to the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame, along with the posthumous inductions of A. Tillis Edwards, Jr., and Edward A. Taylor. All three will be honored during the 60th Citrus Celebration Luncheon tentatively scheduled for Friday, Nov. 4, 2022 at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.
Learn more about the latest inductees:
Tillis Edwards
Tillis Edwards was a lifelong citrus man and a native of Lakeland. He started at age 18 in 1937 going door-to-door buying backyard citrus for his father’s citrus business, Edwards-Pritchett-Tillis, Inc. From that simple start, Edwards expanded the single business into a vertically integrated conglomerate of companies so that by the 1960s, he was well known across the citrus belt as a harvester-handler-packer-processor-grower. He was President of Edwards Packing Co., VP of Florida Sip, Inc., and handled more than 1,000 acres of groves as VP of Edwards Groves, Inc. He was President or VP for multiple industry organizations, including Florida Orange Marketers, Quality Orange Marketers, H.P. Hood & Sons concentrate plant in Dunedin, and Intermediate Harvesters and Handlers Association. He was also a member of the Florida Fresh Citrus Shippers Association and the Cotton Exchange Board, where he worked to establish orange juice as a traded commodity on the exchange.
George Hamner
George Hamner has been a workhorse for Florida’s fresh segment for 43 years, providing active leadership to the Florida citrus industry by working closely with state and federal agencies to help bridge governmental, regulatory, grower, and shipper communities. He has successfully led his family’s fresh fruit packing business, Indian River Exchange Packers, Inc. through the ups and downs of the industry during the past five decades, while volunteering his time in numerous industry organizations. Hamner has served as President of Florida Citrus Packers, Chairman of Citrus Administrative Committee, board member of New Varieties Development & Management Corp., President of Florida Citrus Mutual, President and Board member of Indian River Citrus League and member of the Florida Citrus Canker Technical Advisory Task Force. He has hosted trade missions, senior state and federal politicians, international regulatory review teams, emergency response investigators, and more to ensure a viable and sustainable industry.
Ed Taylor
Ed Taylor was the first Florida Department of Citrus Executive Director that had professional marketing expertise. Taylor was responsible for creative marketing programs that included the iconic “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine” slogan, the Florida Sunshine Tree symbol – which is still in use today, hiring Anita Bryant to be the spokeswoman for Florida citrus, establishing a School Marketing Program for Florida OJ and a foodservice program that included McDonald’s serving orange juice as part of its breakfast menu for the first time. Under his leadership, Florida citrus became a staple in the American diet, and in diets in many other countries throughout the world.
Tickets to the 60th Citrus Celebration Luncheon, which is co-sponsored by Florida Citrus Mutual and the Florida Department of Citrus, will go on sale in January.
To purchase tickets and to learn more about the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Class of 2022 inductees, visit FloridaCitrusHallofFame.com.
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