Local Produce Industry Icon Who Co-Founded Pasadena’s Pantry Market Has Died

In the 1950s, a time when people were turning toward processed foods, organic food industry pioneer Harland Heath of Pasadena was just getting started in the business.

Heath, who recently died, was the fifth of 11 children and actually began his career in the food distribution game at the age of 11, when he started working at his local grocery store, according to his obituary appearing at freshplaza.org.

Immediately after high school, he worked for Boys Markets, then spent five years with the Alpha Beta Markets group.

According to his biography appearing on the Fresh Produce and Floral Council website, Heath, who served in the Korean War, and six partners opened the first Pantry Market in Pasadena in 1955.

With Pantry Market, which evolved into a regional chain of markets, he served as director of produce operations, responsible for procurement of produce, warehousing, distribution to stores, merchandising, advertising and supervision of personnel.

In his personal life, Heath joined the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association in 1958. He was also a member of the Pasadena Optimist Club. According to his profile at fpfc.org, he served four years on the Salvation Army Advisory Board and six years as chairman of the Bethany Church of Sierra Madre Board of Trustees.

One of 15 of the original founding members of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council, Heath served as president in 1968-69 and as chairman of the board. He served on the board of directors since the formation of the council in 1965 and served as past chairman representative for many years.

In 1970, he joined the Ed Miller Co., a Los Angeles Produce Broker. Five years later, Harland moved to William Hooker Co. as produce broker, sales agent, importer and exporter.

In 1981, Heath and his partner Patrick Lejeune started the national and international produce brokerage firm Heath and Lejeune, Inc. The company, located in the city of Commerce, provides mixed load buying and consolidating.

In 2003, Harland was named Honorary Past Chairman of the Fresh Produce & Floral Council and was a past chairman representative of the FPFC for life.

When Heath and LeJeune started the company in 1981, their business model was to represent Northwest shippers in the Los Angeles marketplace. “This was before cell phones or digital photography. There was no way to check exactly what the product looked like upon arrival,” said Heath & LeJeune Director of Marketing David Weinstein.

“The produce business thrived on relationships and trust. Everything was based on your integrity,” Weinstein said in an interview with the Organic Produce Network.

“Every single day people do business with us because of the relationships they had with Pat and Harland,” Weinstein said.

“To this day we are profiting from that integrity. We are the beneficiaries of that legacy,” he said.

Heath is survived by his wife Lois, three children and six grandchildren, according to the association website.