Jerry Trussler

Jared "Jerry" Trussler was born on August 21st, 1938 to Fern and Arthur Trussler in Paso Robles, California and passed away peacefully at his home in Kerikeri, New Zealand on June 24th, 2022. He grew up in San Luis Obispo and Santa Clara Counties and graduated from San Luis Obispo High School with the class of 1956.

In 1957, Jerry went to Alaska to work on a commercial fishing boat in the Bering Sea, which he described as the most pivotal point in his career, and he continued to return to Alaska as a commercial fisherman for over 30 years. Jerry also became a commercial abalone diver and obtained his pilot instructor's license.

In 1965, Jerry started a welding company focused on building steel commercial fishing vessels, but later moved on to manufacturing steel water tanks up to 10 million gallons in size for municipalities all over California. In 1977, Jerry renamed his business Trusco Tank Inc. and the company grew to employ over 250 employees in San Luis Obispo, Fresno, and Bakersfield.

In the early 80s, Jerry was contracted to build underground fuel storage tanks for Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, and in 1985, he was named California's Small Business Person of the Year by the US Small Business Administration. The 90s saw him go on to build some of the first double containment underground fuel storage tanks for service stations in California and patent a number of underground storage systems.

Jerry moved his family to New Zealand in 1997 in search of a new adventure and established Sweetwater Orchards in Awanui; it was the largest avocado orchard in New Zealand at the time and became Jerry's pride and joy. He had a kentia palm tree nursery in Coopers Beach for over two decades and even opened a donut shop in Kerikeri in 2016. He was an avid diver and enjoyed many a day underwater searching for crayfish in the Bay of Islands. Larger than life, Jerry often humorously referred to himself as "J.T. the Good Guy", a nickname embraced by those close to him.

Jerry is survived by his daughters Lori Emmington, Leslie Hill, and April Burton; grandchildren Christopher, Hayden, Jenni, BreeAna, Kaileb, Jacob, Cade, and Jon; great-grandchildren Delilah and Zoey; and friend, Bill Wiessing. He was greeted at the eternal gates by parents Art and Fern, brother Bill and sister-in-law Lano, and children Christopher and Raina. Jerry will be greatly missed by his friends and family in both New Zealand and the United States.