Mar 24, 2015

Pomesters name Joe Klein Sr. 2015 Michigan Fruit Man of the Year

The Michigan Pomesters named Joe Klein Sr. its 2015 Michigan Fruit Man of the Year.

The presentation was made March 24 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the group’s annual meeting. Klein’s son, Joe Klein Jr., recited some of his father’s achievements in the Michigan fruit industry.

Klein Sr. has been a member of, among other groups, Michigan Farm Bureau, Farm Credit Association of West Michigan, the Michigan State Horticultural Society (he was given the society’s Distinguished Service Award in 2004) and the Great Lakes EXPO board. He’s served on the board of Jack Brown Produce for more than 40 years, and is currently the treasurer and chairman.

“As I look around the room,” Klein Sr. told the Pomesters, “everybody, with the exception of maybe a couple, are younger than me. That is a good thing. It tells me our industry is in very good hands.”

There are a lot of good young growers in Michigan Pomesters, doing some really great things for the Michigan industry, he said.

“I feel so blessed that I live where I live, that I do what I do and that I know the people and work with the people in this industry,” he said. “I don’t know how anybody could top that.”