Every Wednesday morning there is a familiar presence on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, and beneath that presence is a powerful story of generosity.

Pear Bureau Northwest, the nonprofit marketing association that promotes fresh pears grown in Oregon and Washington, recently commissioned nutrition research examining fresh pear consumption and the associated nutrition and health benefits.

E. Armata, a fourth-generation family run fruit and vegetable wholesaler completed a major renovation project at its location on Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, NY, last November.

“It was a major renovation and was also done in an expedient manner,” Paul Armata, vice president of the company, told The Produce News. “We broke ground on the project last April. It was a major gutting and rebuilding from the ground up.”

Morris Okun Inc., a full-service produce company located at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, NY, is one of the older tomato repackers in the industry.

On April 28, Thomas Cignarella, president of the company, told The Produce News that this year’s tomato movement started out sluggish in the southern growing regions.

“Today we service all categories of freight, but we continue to have a high profile in temperature controlled fresh produce logistics,” said Rob Goldstein, owner, president and founder of Genpro Inc., in Rutherford, NJ.

“We handle fresh fruits and vegetables as well as they can be handled, and we deal with thousands of carriers and thousands of loads every year,” he said.

The company, which Goldstein started shortly after graduating from college in 1989, does not have agents or brokers who are supported by outside companies.

Denise Goodman, vice president of M&R Tomato Distributors Inc., located on the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, NY, partners with her brother, Michael Tambor, company president, in overseeing the company’s operations.

Goodman’s daughter, Lisa Vogl, represents the third generation to work in the business. She joined the company three years ago and has been working throughout every aspect of the business to learn all about its operations.