Jim Formisano, lifelong member of NJ produce industry, was 64
Jim Formisano, lifelong member of NJ produce industry, was 64
James Anthony Formisano, a lifelong member of the fresh produce industry, died Oct. 2 of liver cancer at his home in Buena, NJ. He was 64 years old.
Mr. Formisano, known as Jim, was born Jan. 27, 1950, in Hackensack, NJ, but moved to the southern part of the state when he was 2 years old, according to his sister Carol Swendsen. He was raised in Buena, graduated from Vineland (NJ) High School in 1969, and started to work in the fresh produce industry, beginning with the Formisano family produce business, she said.
Jim Formisano
Skip Consalo launched Fresh Wave Produce (now The Freshwave LLC) in Vineland, NJ, back in 2004, and Mr. Formisano was there from the beginning. When he died, Mr. Formisano was the company's director of field operations.
"He was there since the first year of The Freshwave," Tom Consalo, the company's vice president, told The Produce News Friday, Oct. 24. "He was beloved here in the office. He was so well known and so well liked by so many people in the area. He was such a good guy."
Mr. Formisano devoted much of his time to his work, which he liked very much, but he also enjoyed fine dining and traveling, and his favorite travel destination was the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean, according to Barbara Frasnelli, his companion for the last nine years.
Mr. Formisano, who was divorced, is survived by two sisters, Carol Swendsen and Theresa Newman; two brothers, John Formisano and Ralph Formisano, of Formisano Produce Co. Inc.; and many nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces.
