Produce Industry Giant Passes Away
June 11, 2014 
Jon Vessey
Jon Vessey, patriarch of Vessey and Company Inc. of Holtville, CA, passed away on June 7 following a battle with cancer. He was 70.
Vessey and Company is a producer of a variety of leafy greens and other vegetable crops. According to the farm’s website, it was under Jon’s leadership that the farm diversified by growing more than 25 different commodities for numerous customers.
In addition, Vessey served on Western Grower’s Board of Directors from 1985 until 2010. Last year, he was the recipient of the Western Growers Award of Honor and a lifetime achievement award from the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
He also was active in numerous industry groups including the Produce Marketing Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation, and he served as president of the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association and was on the board of directors of Buy California.
The Vesseys got involved in the produce business after Jon’s grandfather Elton and his wife, Maude, moved to Los Angeles from Wisconsin in the late 1800s. In Los Angeles, they began a wholesale vegetable operation. In the 1920s, Elton opted to grow lettuce rather than buy it, and the family started growing in Imperial Valley and later in Salinas and Hollister.
Click here for more information from Western Growers.
Source: Western Growers
Subscribe Today For
