Thursday,
February 22, 2007
Obit: Joseph Gallo, 87; Wine and Cheese
Magnate
The
ANNOTICO Report
Joseph
Edward Gallo was the youngest by almost 10 years, of three brothers,
and as such, he escaped the hard physical farm work that Ernest and Julio were
forced to do as boys, but Joseph was also their father's namesake, and his
favorite child, and Ernest and Julio may
have resented him for that, the author contends.
If
the acrimony was there, it wasn't that obvious until Joseph was 62, and his brothers in their 70's, when Joseph tried to use
the Gallo name on his cheese products, and his brothers sued and won.
Immediately
after their parents death in 1933, the early 20's Ernest and Julio
Gallo invested $5,700 to form the E. & J.
Gallo Winery. Joseph was 13 at his parent's death, and during
mid/high school and while attending Modesto Junior College, Joseph worked with
his brothers to help establish the winery, and after serving in the US Air
Force, and upon his return in 1946, he became ranch manager for his brothers
for 20 years, during which he accumulated his own vineyards and cattle ranches.
In 1967,
he struck out on his own, and then established five dairies in
His
older brothers sued him claiming
trademark infringement The federal
judge agreed , Joseph then sold under the Joseph Farms
label, and it is now the largest-selling retail-brand cheese produced in
The
Gallo family's history was documented in "Blood & Wine," a 1993
book by Ellen Hawkes.
It
is a pity the obit writer focused on the piddling legal disagreement,
and didn't focus more on how these two brothers, hardly in their twenties,
looked after their barely teen brother when their parents died, and
together built two empires.
By
Valerie J. Nelson, Times Staff Writer
February 22, 2007
Joseph
Edward Gallo, who built a dairy empire apart from his wine baron brothers
despite losing an acrimonious legal battle with them over the right to use the
family name on the cheese he produced, has died. He was 87.
Gallo, who had been in declining health for several years after a stroke, died
Saturday at his home in the
While managing Ernest and Julio Gallo's vineyards in Livingston, southeast of
After establishing a cheese-production company in 1982, he began selling the
product to consumers under the label Joseph Gallo Cheese.
His older brothers sued him claiming trademark infringement and denounced the cheese as an inferior
product that could damage the winery's reputation. The lawsuit also referred to
him as an unknown cheese maker, and the charges infuriated him, Whiting said.
"I have only got one name," Joseph told reporters outside the
courtroom in 1988. "I don't know how I'm supposed to look for another
one."
The federal judge ruled that using the Gallo name confused consumers, leading
them to think that the cheese was connected to the winery. He ordered the name
changed on the package. Now sold under the Joseph Farms label, it is the
largest-selling retail-brand cheese produced in
Joseph countersued, arguing that his brothers had used their parents' estate to
launch their E. & J. Gallo Winery in
Dismissing the suit, the hearing judge lamented that the best witness the Gallos'
late father "was out of the
reach of the court's process," The Times reported in 1988.
The legal battle drove a permanent wedge between Joseph and the brothers who
had raised him since the age of 13 after their parents died in a
murder-suicide.
The Gallo family's history was documented in "Blood & Wine," a
1993 book by Ellen Hawkes that comes squarely down on
Joseph's side in the legal feuding. She contends that the sibling tensions
began soon after Joseph was born Sept. 11, 1919, in the Bay Area city of
The youngest brother by almost 10 years, Joseph was not only their father's
namesake but also his favorite child, Hawkes says. As
such, he escaped the hard physical farm work that Ernest and Julio were forced
to do as boys, and they may have resented him for that, she writes.
Their Italian immigrant parents had a stormy relationshi
p that ended in 1933, when the senior Joseph killed his wife, the former Susie
Bianco, and then turned the revolver on himself.
Six weeks after their parents died, Ernest and Julio invested $5,700 to form
the E. & J. Gallo Winery, according to the 1988 story.
During high school and while attending
He entered the Army Air Forces during World War II, first serving as a gunnery
instructor and then in the
Upon returning in 1946, he became ranch manager for his brothers and had three
children with his first wife. One son, Peter, was killed in action in the
Vietnam War in 1968.
Joseph Gallo Farms traces its beginnings to the late 1940s, when Joseph began
acquiring raw land and developing its grape-growing potential. He later
expanded to growing other crops and raising cattle. The 4,000 acres of viney ards he amassed made him
one of
In 1995, Successful Farming magazine recognized Joseph Gallo Farms in
He had an affinity for the outdoors he liked to hunt and fish and had established wetlands and wildlife
programs on his property, his family said.
"He was a very optimistic person and very hard-working," said his
son, Michael, who took over as chief executive officer of Joseph Gallo Farms
when his father retired. "He believed in leadership by example and would
literally work right alongside his employees."
In addition to Michael, Gallo's survivors include his wife of 41 years,
Patricia; daughter Linda; stepson Sam Gardali; brother Ernest; and six grandchildren. His brother Julio
died in 1993.
valerie.nelson@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/
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