John G. (Sonny) Heeren, president of Heeren Bros. Produce in Grand Rapids, MI, died Nov. 23 in hospice care at Spectrum Health-Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. Mr. Heeren, who was 80, succumbed about a month after being diagnosed with cancer, according to his son James (Jim) Heeren. Born in Grand Rapids on July 13, 1929, Mr. Heeren grew up and attended school in Grand Rapids, graduating from high school in 1948. He attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, where he studied history and education, with the goal of becoming a teacher. After graduating in 1952, he went into the U

Passion and love of the Finger Lakes region of New York served as the inspiration for husband and wife Debra and Dave Whiting to launch new careers in the restaurant and winery business in 1999 when they opened Red Newt Bistro & Cellars in Hector, NY. Throughout the past decade, the business has evolved into one of the more popular eateries and wineries in the region. Also during that time, both have become highly involved in and dedicated to locally grown initiatives and movements. Neither began their careers in the food and wine business. "I have a bachelor's and master's degree in

Yakima, WA-based FirstFruits Marketing of Washington recently added more manpower and expertise to its organic sales team with the hiring of Paul Newman as an organic sales specialist. Mr. Newman brings more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience to FirstFruits Marketing and will join Matt Miles as the core of the firm's organic apple sales team. The duo will have one of the larger organic apple manifests to market, totaling more than 1.5 million cartons of product this crop year. "We are one of the industry's leading organic apple suppliers. Our success depends on building results

Potato growers in Prince Edward Island, Canada, experienced a difficult harvesting season this year. Greg Donald, general manager of the Prince Edward Island Potato Board in Charlottetown, PEI, met with Wesley J. Sheridan, PEI minister of agriculture, in late October to discuss the harvesting problems that growers were facing. "I followed up on my meeting with the minister during the first week of November and requested disaster funding based on the then estimated 10- 15 percent potential crop loss," Mr. Donald told The Produce News in mid- November. PEI had record rainfall of 11 inches during

Sheri Mierau, president of the California Tree Fruit Agreement, resigned from her post Tuesday, Dec. 1, and simultaneously it was announced that she was joining Dinuba, CA-based grower-shipper Fruit Patch Sales LLC as its vice president of sales and marketing. In a letter to the CTFA committee members, Ms. Mierau announced that she had resigned during the Dec. 1 CTFA Executive Committee meeting and said she would continue in her position until the end of the year. She joined CTFA in 2004 as vice president of marketing and became president in December of 2006. The CTFA has not announced yet

The Orlando, FL-based National Mango Board held a board meeting Nov. 17- 18 in Orlando, bringing together a diverse group of industry members from Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Puerto Rico and the United States. At the meeting, four new board officers were elected for the 2010 year: Chairman Larry Nienkerk of Splendid Products in Burlingame, CA; Vice Chairman Venancio Marti of Martex Farms in Carolina, Puerto Rico; Treasurer Tony Godinez of Godinez International in Hidalgo, TX; and Secretary Paul Barclay of Sociedad Agricola Saturno in Lima, Peru. In their new leadership roles, these board