Grossman to retire from fresh produce industry
Grossman to retire from fresh produce industry
After more than 60 years in the fresh produce industry, Jerry Grossman is ready to call it a job well done.
Mr. Grossman spent most of those years as an independent produce broker. His license expires May 20, and at 86 years old, he is closing the business. It would seem that he has had a pretty good run. "I don't think anyone's ever called me a rotten son of a bitch," Mr. Grossman joked.
The secret to his success, he told The Produce News, came down to these three attributes: quality, honesty and volume.
Though he has not quite retired yet, he said that he is feeling "very happy about retiring," adding, "I will miss all the shippers I have worked with. I still have plenty of friends [in the business], but salesmen have changed."
Many of his contemporaries over the years have retired or died, or their companies have gone out of business, he said.
As a broker, Mr. Grossman has bought and sold product from many growers over the years. Among his long business associations, he spoke with pride of having had a decades-long working relationship with the Corrado family and their supermarket in Clifton, NJ. He has been selling produce to Jerry Corrado, a third-generation family member in Corrado Food Market, for a long time.
"I sold to the grandfather and father, and the son (Jerry) has done well," Mr. Grossman said.
He also pointed to his longtime relationship with Community Suffolk Inc. in Everett, MA.
Mr. Grossman launched Jerome Produce & Distributing Co. in Phoenix in 1946 after being discharged from the Marine Corps in 1945. In 1990, he changed his company's name to J.E. Produce & Distributing Co.
His late wife, Geraldine, to whom he was married for 45 years, ran the office. After her death, Mr. Grossman closed his Nogales, AZ, office, and four years later, he married his second wife, Jacqueline. They spent about 13 years in the Phoenix area and the past five years in Coronado, CA, near San Diego. Mr. Grossman and his first wife had four children - two daughters and two sons. Three live in the Phoenix area and the fourth lives in Chicago. Mr. Grossman has eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with whom he wants to spend time now that he is retiring, he said.
In the winter and spring, Mr. Grossman used to work from his office in Nogales, and in the winter, he concentrated on the California new potato deal in the Bakersfield area.
He has embraced technology as he has needed to, noting that computers have "saved time and money."
He added, "I've enjoyed getting up every morning" for brokerage duties, such as working out problems. "It's kept me young."
Mr. Grossman still plays golf and plans to spend more time on the links in retirement.
Mr. Grossman spent most of those years as an independent produce broker. His license expires May 20, and at 86 years old, he is closing the business. It would seem that he has had a pretty good run. "I don't think anyone's ever called me a rotten son of a bitch," Mr. Grossman joked.
The secret to his success, he told The Produce News, came down to these three attributes: quality, honesty and volume.
Though he has not quite retired yet, he said that he is feeling "very happy about retiring," adding, "I will miss all the shippers I have worked with. I still have plenty of friends [in the business], but salesmen have changed."
Many of his contemporaries over the years have retired or died, or their companies have gone out of business, he said.
As a broker, Mr. Grossman has bought and sold product from many growers over the years. Among his long business associations, he spoke with pride of having had a decades-long working relationship with the Corrado family and their supermarket in Clifton, NJ. He has been selling produce to Jerry Corrado, a third-generation family member in Corrado Food Market, for a long time.
"I sold to the grandfather and father, and the son (Jerry) has done well," Mr. Grossman said.
He also pointed to his longtime relationship with Community Suffolk Inc. in Everett, MA.
Mr. Grossman launched Jerome Produce & Distributing Co. in Phoenix in 1946 after being discharged from the Marine Corps in 1945. In 1990, he changed his company's name to J.E. Produce & Distributing Co.
His late wife, Geraldine, to whom he was married for 45 years, ran the office. After her death, Mr. Grossman closed his Nogales, AZ, office, and four years later, he married his second wife, Jacqueline. They spent about 13 years in the Phoenix area and the past five years in Coronado, CA, near San Diego. Mr. Grossman and his first wife had four children - two daughters and two sons. Three live in the Phoenix area and the fourth lives in Chicago. Mr. Grossman has eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with whom he wants to spend time now that he is retiring, he said.
In the winter and spring, Mr. Grossman used to work from his office in Nogales, and in the winter, he concentrated on the California new potato deal in the Bakersfield area.
He has embraced technology as he has needed to, noting that computers have "saved time and money."
He added, "I've enjoyed getting up every morning" for brokerage duties, such as working out problems. "It's kept me young."
Mr. Grossman still plays golf and plans to spend more time on the links in retirement.
