Citrus leader Joel Nelsen dies at 78
Citrus leader Joel Nelsen dies at 78
Joel Nelsen, who spent almost the entirety of his produce career as an association executive, including 37 years with California Citrus Mutual, died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 78.
Mr. Nelsen was born in San Diego on Sept. 27, 1946, and died on July 1, 2025, while traveling to pick up his 12-year-old grandson for an extended California stay.
Mr. Nelsen was introduced to the produce industry by his father, Wally Nelsen, who was a longtime produce executive with the Lucky Stores supermarket chain in Southern California.
Joel Nelsen started working as a produce clerk for Lucky Stores in the early 1960s at the age of 16, eventually rising to a produce manager position, which he kept off and on as he served in the military and attended college. He was in the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1970, serving four tours of duty in Vietnam. He returned home to graduate from Cal State University, Fullerton, soon got married, and then joined the Fresh Produce Council of Southern California (as it was then called) as its first full-time executive.
After serving the FPC for 10 years and shepherding it through tremendous growth, Mr. Nelsen and Suezette Nelsen and their two daughters moved to Visalia, CA, where he became the CEO of CCM.
That moved resulted in longtime industry leader Jan DeLyser getting her first crack at association management as Mr. Nelsen exhibited an eye for talent. “My memories of Joel are all fond,” DeLyser said. “We visited Jack Latta at a greenhouse he worked for and Joel said he would hire me one day. He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. Hire me he did after two winters as the territory representative in Michigan and a year in Southern California.”
Mr. Nelsen served CCM until his retirement in 2019, fighting a never-ending battle on behalf of the citrus industry, and greatly increasing the presence of the citrus grower association. Mr. Nelsen had a constant presence in the government halls of both Sacramento and Washington, DC, and helped make CCM a force to be reckoned with.
Tom Wollenman of Wollenman Farms served as chairman of CCM during Joel’s tenure and was also a constant presence on the board as a member and chairman of various CCM committee for the past two decades. He reports that he met Mr. Nelsen as early as 1982 when he was introduced as the new leader of CCM, but didn’t begin working with him until 1994 when Wollenman joined CCM’s Marketing Committee. Over the years, the two men formed a close business and personal relationship.
“Number 1, I consider Joel to be a personal friend; number 2 he was a citrus industry colleague,” Wollenman said. “What he did with CCM was one of the most incredible things you can do with any organization. He took CCM and made it the strongest ag organization in California. What CCM is today is all because of Joel Nelsen! He put together a great staff and made them work very hard to accomplish that.”
Wollenman said he traveled with Mr. Nelsen to Sacramento and Washington on more occasions than he can count and Mr. Nelsen was a force to be dealt with. “Every time we landed in D.C. he had the same taxi pick us up,” Wollenman recalled. “This guy was a friend of Joel’s and all the way in from the airport he would fill us in on the D.C. rumor mill and get Joel up to speed so he could do his work as we moved around the Capitol. Joel was a master at it.”
Wollenman revealed that he kept in touch with Mr. Nelsen through his retirement talking to him every couple of weeks, sharing stories about what was going on in the California citrus industry. Though, Mr. Nelsen was no longer involved he always wanted to know the latest. It was difficult for the 37-year CCM veteran to leave the fight behind.
Another colleague who became a friend was Ian LeMay, the current president of the California Table Grape Commission. “I met Joel about 15 years ago when I was a young congressional staffer for Rep. Jim Costa working at the district level in the San Joaquin,” he said. “Joel was already an important figure within ag and I handled the congressman’s ag and water portfolio. Back then, and for many years after, Joel was the physical embodiment of the California citrus industry. He had bravado. He had tenacity. And he was fiercely dedicated to his growers.”
LeMay said Mr. Nelsen had a wealth of knowledge and represented his members as well as anyone could. “Joel could be diplomatic, but his first priority was positioning California citrus in the most positive light that he could. He was always willing to put a stake in the ground on behalf of the industry.”
As LeMay moved from being a congressional staffer to association executive working within the California fruit industry, he said Joel became a peer as well as a mentor and a friend. “Someone I could call for a gut check, or for insight, or just to listen to his legendary stories over lunch,” LeMay said. “I have lost a friend.”
In an obituary written by his family, they noted that in retirement in 2019, Mr. Nelsen was able to spend “more time with Suezette and his daughters, enjoying adventures with (his grandson) Conner, playing golf, tasting wine and whiskey, enjoying the Cayucos (CA) beach, and walking his dog, Katy.”
It was also noted that he came out of retirement in 2023 on an interim basis to help guide the American Pistachios Growers through a transition period.
Mr. Nelsen was preceded in death by his parents and his nephew, Sean Nelsen, who worked for Fowler Packing Co. in an executive position, passing away unexpectedly last December. He is survived by his wife, Suezette; his daughters, Nicole and Laura; his grandson, Conner Joel; his brother, Steven; and many other relatives.
