Regional Oral History Office the Bancroft Library Robert Di Giorgio

Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio THE DI GIORGIOS: FROM FRUIT MERCHANTS TO CORPORATE INNOVATORS With an Introduction by Rudolph A. Peterson An Interview Conducted by Ruth Teiser in 1983 Copyright @ 1986 by The Regents of the University of California All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between the University of California and Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio dated June 23, 1986. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Off ice, 486 Library, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio requires that they be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows : Robert Di Giorgio and Joseph A. Di Giorgio, "The Di Giorgios: From Fruit Merchants To Corporate Innovators, " an oral history conducted in 1983 by Ruth Teiser, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, Universfty of California, Berkeley, 1986. Copy No. TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Rob.ert and Joseph A. Di Giorgio INTRODUCTION by Rudolph A. Peterson INTERVIEW HISTORY I ORIGINS: AN OVERVIEW The Salvatore Di Giorgio Family Joseph Di Giorgid, Entrepreneur, ca. 1889-1920 Establishing Auction Companies Buying the Earl Fruit Company In and Out of the Banana Business Robert Di Giorgio: Education and Early Contributions Years at Lawrenceville and Yale Transfer to California, 1938 Character and Attributes of Joseph Di Giorgio A Millionaire at Twenty-One The Di Giorgio Fruit Corporation Stock The Joseph Di Giorgio Trust OPERATIONS OF A TIGHTLY INTEGRATED FRUIT COMPANY, 1920-1962 Distribution Facilities and Practices Fruit Boxes The Shipping Season The Auction System The Rosario Di Giorgio Family The Di Giorgio Farms : Background and Growth First Land Purchases in California, 1919-1930s Diversifying to Lengthen the Shipping Season Contributions of Joseph A. Di Giorgio Experimenting with Different Crops Providing for Farm Laborers Last Years of Joseph Di Giorgio, 1938-1951 Buying Land at Borrego Springs "Still Calling the Shots" The Four Nephews Carry On Joseph S. Di Giorgio Philip Di Giorgio "We Were Always Unified" I11 FACTORS IN CORPORATE DIVERSIFICATION The 160-Acre Limitation The Recordable Contracts New Types of Acquisitions, 1950s Sale of California Farm Lands, 1965-1969 Problems Inherent in Corporate Farming The Arvin-Dinuba Study Sheridan Downey and "They Would Rule the Valley" The Rise and Fall of the Auction Business Acquiring Sources for Fruit Refrigerated Trucks and Supermarkets Direct Purchases Listing Di Giorgio Stock on the Exchanges Creating One Class of Stock Labor Problems of the Latter 1940s "Poverty in the Valley of Plenty" and "The Di Giorgio Story" Congressional Hearings and Exoneration A Shooting Incident Union Tactics Problems of the Latter 1960s ~&rChavez as a Social Reformer Arbitration and Elections Chavez, Alinsky, and the A.F. of L. Getting out of Farming Union Techniques Last Years of Marysville Orchards Character of the Di Giorgio Labor Force The Japanese Workers and World War I1 The Wartime Labor Shortage Provisions for Di Giorgio Workers IV WINE INDUSTRY INTERESTS, 1928-1966 Getting into the Wine Business Making Wine at Trocha, 1932-1945 Leasing the Wallace Winery Growing Grapes at Delano The Brandy Prorate The Sale of Italian Swiss Colony Selling the Trocha Winery to Schenley, 1945 Starting a New Winery at Di Giorgio, 1946 More on Italian Swiss Colony Grape Varieties of the 1930s Employing Louis M. Martini Increasing Problems with Bulk Wine Sales Going into Bottling Creating a Cooperative Winery Getting out of the Wine Business - V ADAPTING TO CHANGES Fruits for canning and Export Diversification for Extending Shelf Life Wartime Products Current Treesweet By-Products VI GROWTH THROUGH ACQUIRING AND RESHAPING BUSINESSES, 1956-1983 Canning and Related Companies Treesweet Products Company S & W Fine Foods Wood Canning Company Met Food Corporation A Pine Wood Sawmill Additional Food Industry Investments Readjustments Acquiring Peter Carando and Serv-A-Portion The Management of Acquisitions The Portion Packaging Business The Filper Corporation Developing Borrego Shelter Products Pre-finished Mouldings Computer Services Sun Aire Lines The Niche Concept and Corporate Flexibility VII RETROSPECTIVE Providing for Succession The Development of the Di Giorgio Corporation The Formative Years Consolidation Disposing of Farm Land and Diversifying The Factors Leading to Success The Heritage of Joseph Di Giorgio INDEX Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancroft Library . Berkeley, California 94720 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) JOSEPH ARTHUR DI GIORGIO Your full name Date'of birth Jan. 11, 1908 Place of birth Baltimore, Marvland ROSARIO DI GIORGIO Father's full name . Birthplace cEFALU,- SICILY, ITALY Occupation FARMER AND MERCHANT Mother's full name CARMELINA RESTIVO DI GIORGIO TERMINI-IMERESE, SICILY, ITALY Birthplace Occupation HOMEMAKER AND MOTHER BALTIMORE, MD & LOS ANGELES, CA Where did you grow up ? BAKERSFIELD, CA Present community Elementary School-Baltimore & Los Angeles; Virgil 3r. High - Los Education Angeles, CA, Los Angeles High School, Los Angeles, CA; Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon and University of California, Davis, CA Occupation(s) Horticulture and Viticulture Farminq for Di Gioraio Corporations operating and Winery Processing 5-29-29 to Retirement 12-31-1976. Special interests or activities All phases of American agriculture - also American historical sites and events. Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancrof t Library Berkeley, California 94720 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) Your full name Robert Joseph Di Giorgio Date 'of birth December _2 1911 Place of birth New York Citv. New York ~~~h~~t~fullname Salvatore Di Giorgio Occupation Officer - Dl. GI.orgip ('owT1 Mother's full name Marie Meyer Birthplace New York Citv. New Y& Occupation Homemaker Where did you grow New York City Present community San Francisco Education High School--Lawrenceville,grad. 1929; Collene--YaleUniversity: grad. 1933; Fordham Law School, grad. 1936--Memberof New York Bar ~~~~~~~i~~(~)Various responsibilities Di Giorgio Corporation CEO 1971-1983. Presently retired. Special interests or activities INTRODUCTION This story of the Di Giorgio family corporation is in many ways a history of American agriculture during the first half of the 20th Century. It is indeed a prototype of American enterprise at its best. Due to the foresight, ingenuity and resourcefulness of the 17-year-old immigrant boy, Joseph Di Giorgio, the milestones along the way are truly dramatic. The outstanding successes came out of Joseph's ability to take advantage promptly of changes in pattern or, better still, to foresee these changes or trends in advance. It is remarkable indeed that this young man, in his early 20's, could take the padrone system out of Europe and turn it into a new and established system of distribution for fresh fruits and vegetables in the West. When the Supreme Court decided that one party cannot control both the supply source and the shipping facilities of fruit in the West, young Joseph was ready. He was in a position to purchase and finance the largest and most sophisticated distribution setup on the west coast, the Earl Fruit Company. This became the key and the basis for building the Di Giorgio fruit empire as most of us have known it. Joseph Di Giorgio had the foresight to foresee that the agricultural prosperity of World War I was a temporary phenomenon and proceeded, in Earl Fruit Company, to retrench and build cash reserves while his competitors continued on their expansion spree. (On our ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, gyp corn went from $60 to $30 and raisins from 18C to 2~ per pound.) He anticipated the inevitable in Prohibition by some two to three years, and utilized some of the above cash reserves to build a potential fortune in both inventory and equities in the wine industry. Incidentally, he provided these inventories with his own grapes at rock-bottom prices, or at times no price at all. < Later on, he disposed of his overseas holdings and turned them into cash at the proper time. Then he capped it all with a master stroke of high finance, by consolidating all these varied activities and partnership equities into one major, coordinated, corporate setup, in which he still had 50% control. It seems to me that the real story of Di Giorgio in the first half of the century is the way Joseph marched along with, or a bit ahead of, much of our agricultural history. Between his foresight and acumen, he single-handedly built the organization which is the basis for the multi-faceted Di Giorgio of today. During the later 20's and early 301s, his four nephews joined the organization. "J. S." and "J.A." graduated from agricultural colleges and entered into the actual ranching operations. Phil moved more into the marketing area, and Robert, who joined the organization in 1934, was given assignments under some of the established veterans in the financial, accounting and tax areas of operation. As a result, when Joseph died in 1951, he had a family team all ready to take over from the veterans of his original organization. And, for the next 20 years, they did indeed make the most of the opportunity Joseph had prepared for them.

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