Fresno Bee (California)
June 11, 2008 Wednesday
CHASE EDITION
Raisin-industry giant Garabedian dies;
Fowler farmer united growers for bargaining and led two agencies.
by Jim Steinberg The Fresno Bee
Richard Garabedian, a prominent Fowler raisin grower and power in the
organizing of his fellow farmers, stood by his convictions even when
they embroiled him in a conflict within his industry.
Mr. Garabedian, 76, who had suffered cancer and pneumonia, died
Sunday, five days short of his birthday.
He played a major role in rallying growers to unite for bargaining to
achieve better prices and protect standards for their raisins. He had
served as chairman of the Raisin Administrative Committee, a
quasi-governmental agency supervising raisin marketing orders,
regulating crop quantity and quality.
And he was a board member for more than 26 years for the Raisin
Bargaining Association, a grower group that negotiates with packers,
including the raisin cooperative Sun-Maid Growers.
Mr. Garabedian was born in his parents’ ranch house along McCall
Avenue, said his wife, Ellie. His parents, Dick and Martha, had
escaped Ottoman Turkey in 1912. His family settled in Massachusetts
and then Wisconsin. Snow didn’t suit the Garabedians, so they moved
west to the San Joaquin Valley.
Mr. Garabedian attended area schools and graduated from Selma High
School and Fresno State College, earning a teaching credential. He
served in the U.S. Army, then taught school for one year.
He followed his heart, and left teaching for farming. Asked her
husband’s hobbies, Ellie Garabedian replied, "Work."
Kalem Barserian, a raisin farmer and general manager of Lion Raisins,
the Selma grower and processor of California raisins, called
Mr. Garabedian "an industry leader ever since we were young men. He
was always vital, keeping growers together and fighting for their
rights."
They had occasional differences, Barserian said, but respected each
other and had breakfast together just last week.
Barserian said Mr. Garabedian exercised leadership in two agencies
vital to raisin growers. He served decades, some years as chairman,
for the Raisin Administrative Committee. The committee operates under
the U.S. Department of Agriculture to administer the federal marketing
order that regulates production and quality standards of California
raisins.
Mr. Garabedian and Barserian worked to organize raisin growers who,
until the 1960s, made the best individual deals they could make for
their crops with whatever buyers they could find. Raisin prices stood
at $230 per ton in 1966, Barserian said. The price last year was
$1,210 per ton, "and it’s still not enough."
He and Mr. Garabedian had differences over pricing, advertising and
other issues, Barserian said, but they maintained mutual respect:
"The raisin industry was his whole life. I can’t say enough how much
good he did for the industry."
Mr. Garabedian saw conflict during more than a half-century in the
raisin industry. He filed a lawsuit last year, alleging that leaders
of the Raisin Bargaining Association had defamed, slandered and
libeled him. His lawsuit was dismissed in Fresno County Superior
Court, but raisin grower Jake Mooradian said Monday that his friend
had been treated badly by those he had helped.
"It just didn’t work out," Mooradian said. "He was unselfish in the
amount of time he put in for the raisin industry."
Barry Kriebel, president of Sun-Maid Growers, called Mr. Garabedian a
farmer passionate about the raisin industry and one in the middle of
its controversies.
"He loved talking about farming, raisins and people in the
industry. He was a very engaging guy," Kriebel said.
"I can say this," Ellie Garabedian said. "No one devoted himself to
the industry like he did. He was treated very unfairly. It was a great
disappointment, a huge heartache."
Daughters Linda Cole and Christine Tehlirian called their father a
hardworking man who lived for his family and asked little in
return. Some may have feared him, they said, but eventually realized
that Mr. Garabedian was "just a big softie."
Services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday in St. Gregory Armenian Church in
Fowler. = The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or
(559) 441-6311.
INFOBOX
Richard Garabedian
Born: June 13, 1931
Died: June 8
Occupation: raisin grower
Survivors: wife, Ellie Garabedian; daughters, Linda Cole and Christine
Tehlirian; and son, Richard Garabedian