HANFORD, CA - Warmerdam Packing’s Founder William (Bill) Warmerdam passed away on January 8, 2019. He was 80 years old. During his produce industry career, Warmerdam was admired as a leader in the fruit industry for continually embracing innovation and new technologies in the field and packing shed.

In 1965, Warmerdam founded grower-packer-shipper Warmerdam Packing with his wife, Audrey, in Hanford, California. In its early years, Warmerdam Packing grew peaches, plums, and nectarines. Today, the company grows and packs plums, kiwis, and cherries, and, according to a press release, is one of the largest cherry growers in the San Joaquin Valley. At its helm, Warmerdam led the charge to build the company’s first packing shed on Grangeville Boulevard in Hanford in 1969, as well as designed and fabricated the facility's packing equipment himself before the operation was moved to its Excelsior Avenue location in 1977.

Remembrances in Warmerdam’s name may be sent to The Parkinson Alliance, P.O. Box 308, Kingston, NJ, 08528 or parkinsonalliance.org; St. Agnes Hospice, 6729 N. Willow Ave., Suite 103, Fresno, Ca. 93710; or St. Vincent de Paul Society, 115 W. 5^th St., Hanford, Ca. 93230.

AndNowUKnow would like to send our condolences to the Warmerdam family during this time.