Howard Marguleas

1934 - 2017

Howard P. Marguleas

Howard Philip Marguleas, 82, died June 1 in Rancho Mirage, California following complications from cancer. Born December 5, 1934 in San Francisco, California to Joseph and Belle Marguleas, he and his wife Ardith resided in Rancho Mirage, California where they lived off and on since 1958.

A leader in the U.S. produce industry and the principal founder of Sun World International, Marguleas delighted in bringing many new fruits and vegetables to American consumers. Beginning in the 1960s with the first Hawaiian pineapples sold on the mainland, then branded fruit and nuts under the SUN GIANT® brand, and Red Flame Seedless grapes vine-ripened tomatoes, colored sweet peppers, seedless watermelon, and assorted new grapes and plums under the SUN WORLD® brand as well as his coveted California-grown mangoes.

He attended Lowell High School in San Francisco and received his Bachelor of Arts in Agricultural Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. Earlier in his career, along with his father Joseph and partner Frank Heggblade, he worked for produce marketing company Heggblade-Marguleas Co. which they sold to Tenneco, Inc. in 1970. He subsequently served as president and chief executive officer of Heggblade-Marguleas-Tenneco in Bakersfield, which held the oil conglomerate's extensive California agriculture and real estate holdings. In the mid-1970s, he founded Sun World International which he sold twenty years later after growing it into one of the most innovative and largest privately-held produce companies in the country. In addition to his wide-ranging agribusiness interests, Marguleas was an investor in The Irvine Company, the Orange County, California real estate giant, and in several Southern California golf course developments.

He was long recognized as a dynamic leader and innovator in American agribusiness circles. Marguleas was appointed and served under California Governors Edmund G. (Pat) Brown and Ronald Reagan as a member of the California State Board of Agriculture. Produce industry publication The Packer honored him as its 1989 "Man of the Year" and later named him one of the most influential produce industry leaders of the past 100 years. He was recognized with the Distinguished California Agriculturalist Award in 1990, granted the esteemed Mentor's Award by the California Fresh Fruit Association and named the Riverside County Farm Bureau's Man of the Year in 1999.

Marguleas was a longstanding philanthropist and champion for health care, education and community organizations serving on countless boards of directors and trustees, in academia including the Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada, American Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, Ben Gurion University of Be'er Sheva in Israel, Volcani Center International Scholarship and Research Fund (chairman) in Israel, California Council on Science and Technology, the University of California at Davis Graduate School of Management, the University of California Agricultural Issues Center Advisory Board, and the University of California at Riverside (vice chair); in health care including Eisenhower Medical Center, the American Cancer Society Foundation for the U.S. (founding chairman), Heart Institute of the Desert (chair), and Society of Fellows at United Cerebral Palsy of the Inland Empire (chairman); and in supporting local and national community organizations such as the Coachella Valley Boys and Girls Club (as a founding member), the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California (as a founding member) and the Nevada-based Parasol Foundation in Incline Village. He chaired the board of the California State Chamber of Commerce and served on various corporate boards including The Irvine Company, Sun World International (chairman), Ready Pac Foods, Summit Health and Blue Shield of California. Marguleas was also a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and Chief Executives Organization (CEO).

He is survived by his beloved wife Ardith of 59 years, four children, David (Robin) of Palm Desert, California; Dianna (Youval) of Berkeley, California; Anthony (Sue) of Pacific Palisades, California; and Brian (Lisa) of Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as nine grandchildren (Gabby Dar of Berkeley, California; Jack, Anna, Sam and Max Marguleas of Pacific Palisades, California; Maile and Melia Marguleas of Honolulu, Hawaii; and, Sydney and Oliver Marguleas of New York City and Washington D.C.) He is also survived by his dear sisters Thelma Colvin of San Mateo, California; Betty Newman of San Francisco, California, by his sister-in-law and brother-in law Arlene and Jack Garfinkle of Piedmont, California and by many cousins, nephews and nieces.

Memorial contributions may be made to Eisenhower Medical Center, City of Hope or American Cancer Society.

Funeral services will be held in San Francisco on Monday, June 5 at 2:00 pm at Sinai Memorial Chapel (1501 Divisadero Street, San Francisco) followed by interment at Salem Memorial Park (1171 El Camino Real, Colma, CA 94014). A Celebration of Life will also be held in the Coachella Valley on Sunday, June 11 at 1:00 pm at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at the Eisenhower Medical Center (39000 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage, California).