Professional Produce throws85th birthday bash for Milt KaplanBY RAND GREEN

VERNON, CA — For a lot ofpeople, 8 in the morning in themiddle of the week might seemlike an odd time to have an of-fice birthday party. But by 8a.m., Milt Kaplan, had alreadyput in almost a full day’s workalongside his much younger co-workers. Even at 85 he is on thejob early every morning — typ-ical of many produce marketers— not long after most peoplein other occupations with morenormal hours have settled infor the night.

Mr. Kaplan, a buyer andsalesman at Professional Pro-duce here, is the son of Ted Ka-plan, founder and president ofProfessional Produce. The com-pany threw the birthday bashfor him the morning of June 6,complete with balloons, a

mariachi band and (staying onmessage) birthday cakes beau-tifully decorated with freshfruit.

Many of his friends in theproduce industry showed upfor the occasion.

According to Ted Kaplan, hisfather has spent his entire life inproduce from about the age ofnine or 10, with the exceptionof when he served in the UnitedStates Army during World WarII.

“He is second generation” inthe Los Angeles produce busi-ness, said Ted Kaplan, whosegrandfather and grandmotherstarted Kaplan’s Fruit & Pro-duce in downtown Los Angeles1908. That company continuedin business until 1982.

The family’s involvement inproduce actually goes backeven further. Ted Kaplan said

that his grandfather’s familycame to Los Angeles fromJerusalem sometime around1900 or earlier. Before that,“my dad’s family — uncles,cousins and everything — werefarming in Gadera, which is asmall town outside Tel Aviv,and they had been doing thatfor over 100 years.”

Ted Kaplan, who himself hasbeen working in the producebusiness since about the age of12, started Professional Pro-duce in 1995 as a small com-pany. Five years ago,Professional relocated to a new48,000-square-foot warehouse,distribution and office facilityhere. The company is a diversi-fied produce shipper, distribu-tor and repacker and is alsoinvolved in the farming side ofthe business through partner-ships with several growers.

Milt Kaplan on his 85th birthday with his son, Ted Kaplan.

A mariachi band at Milt Kaplan’s 85th birthday party June 6.

Ted Kaplan (center) with Shelly Sylvester and Wayne Radford,both of Michael Cutler of California Inc. in Los Angeles.

Staying on message, two beautiful birthday cakes featured fresh fruit.

Friends and company personnel gather around Milt Kaplan and his wife, Anita Kaplan, to celebrateMr. Kaplan’s 85th birthday.

Andrew Holzinger of Consolidated West Distributing Inc., Milt Ka-plan, Joel Young of Consolidated West, and Mr. Kaplan’s wife,Anita Kaplan.

Ted Kaplan with Jim Hinderer and Steven Cantor, both ofProduce International LLC in Los Angeles.

COVERING FRESH PRODUCE AROUND THE GLOBE SINCE 1897Vol. 112, No. 28 Week of July 13, 2009