Read brief bios of the 2024 Florida Citrus Hall of Fame inductees who will be honored for their contributions to the Florida citrus industry.
The Florida Citrus Hall of Fame has released the names of the 2024 Florida Citrus Hall of Fame inductees, according to a Florida Citrus Hall of Fame (FCHF) article. They will be inducted March 1, 2024, alongside the Class of 2023 inductees. See excerpts of the inductees’ accomplishments below.
Biographies of the 2024 Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Inductees
The following are excerpts of the lives and contributions of the 2024 Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Inductees from the FCHF article:
Dr. Robert M. “Bob” Behr – “Bob Behr’s roots run deep in Florida soil and so does his connection to the citrus industry, which spanned over four decades. Born in Orlando, Florida, his professional journey in the citrus industry began in 1987 with the Florida Department of Citrus where he served as the Economics/Market Research Director. His acumen in economics was very strong, but it was his ability to translate that knowledge into usable information for growers, processors, brands, and whomever was interested that made an impact…”
George H. Streetman – “George Streetman has exemplified leadership in the fresh citrus segment for decades. He emerged from a family farming in the Indian River area since 1935 to build a successful packing, shipping, and grapefruit export business. During his career, he served as president and General Manager of Hogan & Sons, where he was instrumental in the development of size regulations that helped maintain a profitable and orderly market during periods of oversupply. One of the leaders in initiating and implementing the Partners in Quality (PIQ) inspection for packinghouses, he helped save thousands of dollars in fees for packinghouses by instituting the self-inspection program for fruit quality, earning him the “Hammer Award” presented by Vice-President, Al Gore…”
Leland K. Young – “Representative of the men that built the citrus industry, “when hard work was currency,” Leland K. Young was born the son of a sharecropper and started working in the groves as a young boy. He worked for Kraft Foods and Evans Packing before starting his own company, Peace Valley Enterprises, which became a large, thriving family citrus business caretaking his own groves and those of many others in South Polk County. He was the epitome of a pioneer and an innovator, buying a plastics injection mold machine in the early ‘80s, hiring an engineer, and manufacturing the first low volume emitters in Florida via his company, Nu Jet, significantly undercutting the foreign competition. He invented the Stabilizer Buckle Stake, designed to hold tubing in place for proper placement of jets…”
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