Miami, Fla.-based Kapi Kapi Growers mourned the loss of team member, Douglas (Doug) Bakker, who passed away unexpectedly on June 4.
A 40-year veteran of the fresh produce industry, Bakker spent the first 30 years of his career helping run his family’s wholesale business, Bakker Produce. His early years gave him hands-on experience in sorting and repacking, loading and unloading trucks, and making deliveries to customers in Chicago and the Northwest Indiana region.
Over time, Bakker held roles in IT, HR and accounting before settling into a long tenure in sales. He then spent seven years in both sales and operations roles expanding his family business knowledge to include global supply chain experience.
Bakker joined the Kapi Kapi team in 2020 when the company was just starting. His breadth of knowledge in all aspects of his regional wholesale business coupled with a strong background and expertise in tropical fruits was immensely valuable to Kapi’s growth, the company says.
“Doug’s passion for the business was evident from our first meeting with him,” says Sofia Acon, president of Kapi Kapi Growers, in a news release.
“It was clear that his experience in nurturing long-term partnerships and relationships made him the right choice when we began building our business development team,” she adds. “Over time, Doug played an integral role in developing the type of people-first culture that defines us today. His commitment to strong leadership and cultivating lasting relationships earned him a promotion to director of business development in 2023. Doug’s passion, commitment and integrity were outstanding. He will be deeply missed.”
In the company’s early stage, Bakker was instrumental in helping Kapi to build name recognition within the industry and much of the company’s steady growth can be attributed to his service-minded sales approach that permeates the team today.
“I will miss working alongside Doug and will always fondly remember our time together. We only worked together for five years, but to me he was a lifelong friend and colleague,” says Mark Doiron, senior adviser. “Doug had that kind of impact on those around him. Many of his colleagues will remember how he would call them just to say, ‘I appreciate you.’ That’s the kind of team player Doug was.”
Bakker was born on Nov. 16, 1968 to Chuck and Jean Bakker Sr. and is survived by his wife, Lora Bakker; children Matthew (fiancé Emily Romero) Bakker, Timothy Bakker, Meghan (Josh) Rodriguez; brothers Chuck Bakker, Paul (Julie) Bakker; and sisters Deb Wright, Karin (Sonny) Ross, and Barb (Mike) Toth.
Bakker had a passion for sports and loved following sports teams like the Cubs, the Bears and the IU basketball team. Bakker especially loved baseball and was the former president of the Lakes of Four Seasons Baseball League. One of his goals was to visit all the Major League Baseball fields with his son, Matthew. They ended up visiting 15 out of 30 fields. Bakker also loved to travel with his wife and spending time with his family.
