The fields and hallways of Salinas, CA-based Tanimura & Antle are minus the smile of Robert (Bobby) Tanimura, who died in his Salinas home on Saturday, Feb. 18, after a long battle with cancer. He was 76.

Though battling prostate cancer since the 1990s, Mr. Tanimura kept an active schedule as a director with the company. Farming was his lifelong passion, and right up until his final days, he could be seen patrolling the fields, dispensing advice about pest management and attending T&A board meetings.

While Mr. Tanimura's illness had slowed him down in his later years, he "maybe cut his hours down from 80 hours a week to 60 hours a week," said Bob Nielsen, a senior vice president with T&A.

Bob Antle, co-chairman of the Tanimura & Antle board of directors, said in a statement, "[Mr. Tanimura] leaves a big hole. Our company and community are richer because he was with us. We are poorer now because he is gone."

Mr. Tanimura was born in Castroville, CA, to Eijiro and Yukino Tanimura, the 12th of 13 children. He spent his boyhood working with his brothers, learning the art and science of farming in the sustainable manner that the Tanimura family has always followed. He and members of his family were removed from their farms and interned in the desert in Poston, AZ, during World War II.

Following World War II, Mr. Tanimura joined his brothers and sisters as they put their lives back together, beginning with jobs harvesting in Gilroy, CA. Mr. Tanimura and his brothers and their families created a dynamic and successful farming enterprise.

In 1948, they joined forces as a grower with Bud Antle, and over the next three decades built a farming operation that expanded from Aromas, CA, to Salinas to Huron, CA. They contracted with the Antle family, and in the mid-1960s partnered with George and Shiro Higashi to form H&T Farming.

Mr. Tanimura enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a soldier during the Korean War.

In 1982, Mr. Tanimura, together with his brothers George, Charlie, Johnny and Tommy, and his nephews Gary and Keith, partnered with Bob, Rick and Mike Antle to form Tanimura & Antle. Mr. Tanimura was in charge of entomology and other related farming operations.

Today, the company farms more than 40,000 acres in the United States and Mexico, shipping a variety of fresh produce and value-added products throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

Mr. Nielsen said that he will remember Mr. Tanimura for his strength of character and good-natured ways. "He always did it with a sense of humor and a sparkle in his eye," Mr. Nielsen said. "The hallmark of the Tanimuras is their integrity, and that plays out in how they treat the land, crops, people, customers -- with respect and care."

In crafting an obituary tribute to Mr. Tanimura, Mr. Nielsen wrote: "He and his brothers were often seen traveling their ranches together in their white pickup truck. They met morning, noon and evening to discuss farming, family and friends. Tanimura & Antle was far more than a business for Bobby. It was a way of life -- something that depended on his continued commitment and skills - and that in turn energized Bobby and gave him definition and meaning."

Mr. Tanimura also was a director of the Tanimura Family Foundation, which supports the education and the development of the lives of people in the community. Along with his brothers, their families and the Antle family, Mr. Tanimura was instrumental in donating substantially to the new library complex at California State University at Monterey Bay. T&A Chief Executive Officer Rick Antle said that Mr. Tanimura "worked to make this world a better place, in T&A and in his community."

Don Nucci, a partner at Salinas-based Mann Packing Co. Inc., said that Mr. Tanimura and his brothers have always been "humble and low-profile" and are "pioneers of this [lettuce] industry."

Basil Mills, patriarch of Salinas-based Mills Family Farms, said that Mr. Tanimura was "one of the great people in our industry," and that he returned to farming "as a great leader" after spending time in an internment camp during World War II.

Gary Tanimura, nephew to Mr. Tanimura and the company's executive vice president of production, said that his uncle "had a love of the ground" and was always "there to give his advice" and that he was a wealth of farming knowledge.

Gary Tanimura recently had called his uncle to tell him that T&A had dug a new well on the farm property. "That got him motivated to get out of bed," Gary Tanimura said. "This was his life's passion."

Mr. Tanimura is survived by his brothers and sisters-in-law George and Masaye Tanimura, John and Sakako Tanimura, Tom and Hisako Tanimura; his sister-in-law, Fumiko, wife of his late brother, Charles, all of Salinas; his sisters Alice Sato of Palo Alto, Rose Yuki of Los Gatos, and Betty Furusho of Mountain View; his nephews and nieces, Gary and Keith Tanimura, Bonnie Yokota, June and Jeanne Tanimura, of Salinas, Susan Tanimura, of Fresno, Glenn Tanimura of San Jose, and Leslie Morishita of San Carlos, CA, Carole Nakamura of Hawaii, Ann Murano of Saratoga, Cathy and JoAnn Yuki of Los Gatos as well as many grandnieces, grandnephews and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.

The Tanimura family has asked that anyone wishing to honor Mr. Tanimura with a contribution do so in his name to the Buddhist Temple of Salinas or the Hospice Foundation of the Central Coast.