Jose Oscar Alvarez Jr., a leader in the customs house brokerage business through J.O. Alvarez Inc., died April 21 at home surrounded by loved ones. He was 66.

Mr. Alvarez, who was born Sept. 10, 1954, is survived by his wife, Cristina G. Alvarez; children, Tanya Alvarez (Taha Khorram), Kendra Alvarez (Ismael Reyes Retana), Jose Oscar (JO) Alvarez III (Tania Gonzalez); grandchildren, Sahtya Khorram, Jose Oscar Alvarez IV, Amalia Matilda Reyes Retana; siblings, Gretel A. (Roberto) Garza Gongora, Sergio (Loly) Alvarez, Eduardo (Ana Isabel) Alvarez; and mother-in-law, Amalia Villarreal de

Sal Giumarra, who for 50 years led the Giumarra family grape-growing operation, died at age 95 in Bakersfield, CA, on March 25. He began a life of farming at age 13, working in the fields beside his father after school hours and every summer. During his tenure as president of Giumarra Vineyards, Mr. Giumarra oversaw the company's expansion to become known as a premier grower of table grapes and established the "GrapeKing" label as an industry-standard of quality throughout the world. Mr. Giumarra did this not from behind a desk but in the fields alongside his employees, and many of his farming

While local tree fruit growers work in their fields with eager anticipation of this year’s crop, BC Tree Fruits growers have an added assurance of stability with the extension of the cooperative’s CEO contract.

“The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Warren Sarafinchan has accepted the cooperative’s offer to continue in his current capacity as CEO for another five years," said Steve Brown, president of BC Tree Fruits Cooperative Board of Directors. "As Warren has already demonstrated, he is fully committed to working with the growers, board members and employees at the Cooperative

Oppy has added to its extensive team in North America with the hiring of Sergio Ruiz, who will focus on building the supply of key items for the leading grower, marketer and distributor of fresh produce from around the world.

Based in Guadalajara, Ruiz offers a decade of experience in the produce industry in retail and imports as well as various other roles. He also brings to the table a wealth of knowledge of the greenhouse industry in Mexico. In his new role, Ruiz will work on further growing Oppy’s robust offerings across the berry, citrus, avocados and grape categories in addition to the

Church Brothers Farms made additions to its sales team and promoted existing staff as part of a plan to grow the company’s retail and foodservice sales programs.

Bob Licker joined the company to support foodservice sales with his more than 44 years of experience in the industry. He was most recently at Mann Packing as the Northeast regional manager for foodservice. Prior to that, he was at US Foods as a specialist and then regional category manager for the Northeast region.

The company also added industry veterans Andy Abbott and Shayne Gordon as contract sales managers. Their focus is on

W. Galen Weston, who led the transformation of retail giant Loblaw from near-bankruptcy to one of Canada's leading retailers, died April 12 at home after a long illness. He was 80.

In 1961 he launched his career by acquiring and expanding supermarkets and department stores in Ireland. In 1972 he returned to Canada to take charge of Loblaw, a struggling chain of grocery stores that George Weston Ltd. had controlled since 1947. Over more than four decades of hard work and team effort, Mr. Weston led the transformation of the company, including the creation of President's Choice, the launch of