John Tramutola Sr., chairman of the board of A&J Produce in the Bronx, NY, died July 23 after a long illness associated with diabetes. He was 82.

Mr. Tramutola was born Jan. 7, 1931 in Brookylyn, NY, where his father, Thomas Tramutola, was the president of Tom Tramutola Corp., a fruit and produce wholesaler at the Washington Market in New York City.

Mr. Tramutola attended the Teacher’s College of Connecticut and was in the military police of the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany during the Korean War.

On July 29, Richard Sambado, director of domestic sales for Primavera Marketing Inc., in Linden, CA, told The Produce News that the movement on the company’s California apple crop had started about five days earlier, which was about seven days earlier than the crop started last year.

Chuck Thomas is a third-generation produce broker who has seen tomatoes be the core of his business for many, many years.

“Year-round, they represent about 60 percent of our business, and that has remained fairly steady for the last few years,” said the proprietor of Thomas Produce Sales in Nogales, AZ. “But I expect that to decline a bit as the years go by, and we will get closer to 50 percent tomatoes and 50 percent other vegetables.”

Bozzuto’s Inc. held its 2013 Merchandising Marketplace Aug. 6-7 at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, CT. The event was extremely well attended and drew many new retailers, said Greg Veneziano, vice president of perishables at Bozzuto’s.

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With a larger crop of avocados in the market this year, California growers expect their shipping season to continue later into the year than usual, with peak volume continuing through August and much of September, good volume into October, and some shipments moving into the market as late as November.

In support of the large crop and the extenuated shipping period, the California Avocado Commission will be continuing promotional activities well into fall.

Kingston, a distributor, importer and shipper of a variety of fruits and vegetables grown in Central America, South America, Mexico and the United States, announced that it will begin shipping its premium quality sweet onion program from Peru with first U.S. arrivals, which are slated for mid-August.