Paul DiMare
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Leading the second and third generations of family involvement in one of the nation’s largest tomato growing and repacking operations, Paul DiMare, president of the DiMare Co., Homestead, Fla., has a long list of community and industry awards and contributions.
Leading the second and third generations of family involvement in one of the nation’s largest tomato growing and repacking operations, Paul DiMare, president of the DiMare Co., Homestead, Fla., has a long list of community and industry awards and contributions.
At 68, DiMare — known as “Mr. Tomato” — isn’t planning to retire. He acknowledges that continuous change drives his family-run business, which has tomato and vegetable repacking and distribution operations throughout the country.
“If you look at our company’s founders and see where we started — selling produce from a pushcart that developed into a repacking business with chain stores, then getting into the business of growing tomatoes and other products and moving into other areas — they were smart enough to move with the times,” DiMare said.
Those founders, Paul’s father, Anthony DiMare, and Paul’s uncles, Joseph and Dominic DiMare, the teenage sons of Italian immigrants, pushed produce in Boston’s Haymarket produce terminal area during the late 1920s. The DiMare operation celebrated its 80th year in business in 2008.
“I have always loved this business,” Paul DiMare said. “Being where I came from, the way my dad worked with his brothers, they were seven-days-a-week guys. They lived for their family first and their business second. That’s what I do.”
Community leaders and celebrities in 2007 packed an auditorium to honor DiMare for his many hours of community service to south Florida charities. A Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame inductee, DiMare and his family have also funded tomato variety research and have been actively involved in tomato industry affairs.
“Paul is one of the long-term leaders in the tomato industry and has been one of the cornerstones of a key family in the tomato business nationally,” said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Maitland-based Florida Tomato Exchange. “Paul certainly has a strong personality that generally has not been hesitant to express his views and concerns relevant to the industry then and now.”
DiMare has inspired many of his workers.
“He realizes that utilizing strong individuals around him is what we need to progress and adapt to change,” said Eric Janke, vice president and chief operating officer of DiMare Fresh, the DiMare’s Arlington, Texas-based produce distribution arm. “Paul may have been doing this his entire life, but even with his vast years of experience, he continues to look into the future and how we can adapt to the ever-changing produce industry and what we can do better. The guy probably has more energy than people I know 40 years younger than he is.”
Despite supply interruptions, Janke said the DiMare’s have always been able to supply their customers.
“Anyone can go get it when it’s easy, but no matter the problem, you have to go out and find the product,” DiMare said. “That’s one thing my family has always believed.”