Philip Henry: A nice man and gifted leader
Philip Henry: A nice man and gifted leader
Philip Henry, who served as president of the Henry Avocado Corp. in Escondido, CA, since the early 2000s, died on June 30, of cancer.
By all accounts, he was a significant member of the California avocado industry, helping lead Henry Avocado to tremendous growth during the four decades he was associated with the organization. He also helped the company greatly advance the industry’s first custom ripening program, which was started by his cousin Gil Henry.
While his business acumen is certainly a big part of his legacy, anyone who knew him talked first of his sincere kindness and how he treated everyone he came across. “He was truly the kindest person I ever met,” said his wife Kathy Henry, who met him in 1985 and married him in 1986. “Phil would always do the right thing. It actually is quite remarkable. He never thought of himself first. He always gave credit to everyone else.”
Kathy added that she never heard him say a bad thing about anyone. “It’s just who he was,” she said. “He was really, really nice.”
As further examples, she said Henry would regularly visit the gentleman next door who lived alone, and was always dropping by to visit a sick friend, neighbor or colleague. He was interested in and concerned about everyone he met. Lending a helping hand and keeping in touch was just part of his nature.
When his business partners were interviewed for this story, they said the same thing. Vic Varvel, who succeeded Henry as president of Henry Avocado, said there was not a different side to him. “What you saw publicly, was exactly how he was privately,” he said. “All the employees loved him. He was genuinely a great guy.”
Henry was born in Long Beach, CA, on June 23, 1945, and spent his youth in the Inland Empire around Riverside, CA. He then found his way back to the coast, graduating from Cal State University at Long Beach in 1968 with a degree in business. After college, he enlisted in the Army during the height of the Vietnam War with a desire to become a pilot. “They discovered he was color blind and that ended that dream,” Kathy said. “Instead, he was selected to serve in the Army’s Honor Guard.”
The Honor Guard was stationed in Washington D.C. and was charged with escorting and protecting visiting dignitaries, among other duties. Henry once held an umbrella over President Richard Nixon as he gave a speech during inclement weather. Honor Guard members had to have an exemplary service record and they had to be of a specific height for uniformity purposes. Henry met both requirements.
After serving this role and upon being discharged from the Army, Henry joined the U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service and was a sky marshal in the early 1970s. Kathy, who hadn’t met Henry at this point in her life, recalled that her future husband noted that he worked Pan Am flights during that time in his career. It was in the early 1970s when enhanced security measures were put in place to try and stem the skyjacking tide, which was quite prevalent.
Henry also joined the U.S. Customs Service at some point in the 1970s in a managerial role.
During this era, Henry’s first cousins, Gil and Warren Henry, were running a successful avocado growing, packaging and shipping operation that had been founded in 1925 by their parents, Charles and Florence Henry. The farming couple were among the first to plant avocados in California’s San Diego County.
In the late 1970s, Henry secured his real estate license and soon began handling the real estate needs of the Henry Avocado Corp.
Throughout the 1980s, Henry handled more and more deals and became entrenched in the company. Varvel, a longtime partner in the operations, said Henry came into the company as a part owner in 1987 and became a full-time member of the staff, working on the administrative side of the business in an oversight capacity.
“He was not in a sales role but he did become the face of the company within the produce industry,” Varvel said.
While the current ownership and executive team, which include Vic and Chris Varvel, Don Hoey, Rick Opel and Jon Ullrich, give all-due credit to Gil Henry for initiating and launching the history-making avocado custom ripening concept that has catapulted the avocado industry into unbelievable growth, they also honor Phil Henry’s role.
“He was instrumental in our custom ripening program,” said Opel. “He pushed and guided us as we went down that path.”
Gil Henry remained president until the early 2000s, but Phil Henry took over more and more responsibilities throughout the 1990s and succeeded Gil as president about 20 years ago. “We’ve had amazing growth and it really took off in the ‘90s and early 2000s,” Vic Varvel said. “Phil deserves a great deal of that credit.”
He said Henry Avocado has a very good ownership team, with everyone getting along and helping grow the company, but Henry was the captain of the ship. “We have had nine-10 percent growth on an annual basis since the early 2000s; it was Phil’s vision as to how we went about it. He wanted us to grow every year but not in a haphazard fashion. It was a controlled growth,” he added.
Part of that vision included building distribution centers around the country and establishing written protocols for supply chain movement from the groves to the retail shelves. “Phil wrote those protocols and put them in place,” Varvel said.
Chris Varvel, who has been named the new co-CEO along with Jon Ullrich, traced the growth of those custom ripening rooms and forward distribution facilities under Phil’s leadership. “Of course, our first custom ripening room was in Escondido (at the headquarters),” he said. “Next was Phoenix and then San Jose/Milpitas, which opened in the mid 90s.”
Henry Avocado continued to expand, adding ripening rooms in both San Antonio and Houston after the turn of this century. The latest addition was in Charlotte, NC in 2017/18. “We are pretty well set now and built for continued growth,” Chris Varvel said.
Gil Henry was president of the company until he retired in the early 2000s, officially turning over the reins to Phil Henry around 2005. Gil remained an active avocado grower until his death in 2013.
Kathy met her future husband playing tennis. “Unbeknownst to me it was a set up,” she recalled, adding that it worked out very well. She was living in San Diego at the time, while Henry lived in the Marina Del Rey area of Los Angeles. Though it was not said, that might have hastened his interest in joining Henry Avocado on a full-time basis and moving to San Diego.
Besides his endearing personality, Kathy noted that Henry was very smart. In fact, he was a member of Mensa, which is a high IQ society. He also loved classical music and art and was quite knowledgeable about each discipline. Among his pastimes was following horse racing, which included several trips to the Kentucky Derby and being a frequent visitor to the Del Mar Race Track in San Diego County. “We actually owned five race horses for a short time,” Kathy said, joking that the two best days in a racehorse owner’s pursuit is the day you buy and then sell those horses. “Phil also enjoyed drinking good wine. He was very well educated about good wine,” she said.
Industry friends remember him in the same vein as his wife and his Henry Avocado colleagues.
Rob Bryant worked with Henry for close to 30 years handling the company’s advertising and public relation work on an independent contractor basis. “Phil’s dedication to the Henry name was limited to the company and the family, never himself. He was generous in sharing his knowledge of the industry but never his considerable contributions to it. His tireless focus on the importance of freshness was reflected in our branding efforts and should be a part of his considerable legacy to the avocado community of growers, shippers and importers he greatly admired.”
Gary Caloroso, regional business development director for Giumarra: “I worked on the public relations and advertising agency side for many years before I went to The Giumarra Cos. in 2012,” he said. “During those agency years representing various avocado industry associations and subsequent time representing Giumarra on the CAC, MHAIA and AFM boards, I learned a lot about the avocado industry from Phil. He was so generous with his time. He provided excellent insight. He was truly an amazing human. I will miss him.”
Xavier Equihua, president and CEO of the Peruvian Avocado Commission, had known Henry on both a personal and professional level, and said his passing is a great loss for the avocado category and indeed the produce industry at large.
“I first met Phil in the 1990s when I was the chief trade and economic advisor to the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee,” said Equihua. “I was invited on a tour of California agriculture, during the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) debate, and one of the stops was to an avocado orchard and packinghouse owned by Henry Avocado. I stayed with Phil and his lovely wife, Kathy, at their home in Rancho Santa Fe, and remained friends ever since. He was just such a gentleman and a pleasure to be around.”
Equihua also cited Henry’s service to the industry in a variety of roles, calling him “a visionary for the avocado industry” understanding the importance of looking at things on a global level.
As a tribute to Henry’s involvement in the North San Diego County area in which he lived and worked, the City of Escondido proclaimed July 16, 2025 as Phil Henry Day.
The proclamation noted that he was a “pillar of our community,” longtime leader at Henry Avocado Corp. and a third-generation steward of California avocado farming.
In part it read: “Mr. Henry continued a family legacy that began in 1925, sowing roots deep in Escondido’s agricultural heritage; and WHEREAS, Mr. Henry’s generosity extended far beyond his groves; he and his wife Kathy were unwavering supporters of local causes including the Escondido Foundation, the YMCA, Escondido Boys & Girls Club, and numerous civic initiatives; and WHEREAS, his leadership exemplified the spirit of civic responsibility and rooted pride, strengthening Escondido’s sense of place and purpose; NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved, that I, Dane White, Mayor of the City of Escondido, California, do hereby proclaim July 16, 2025, as ‘Phil Henry Day’ in the City of Escondido, honoring his memory, his legacy of agricultural innovation, and his deep generosity of spirit.”