Dean Cortopassi
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Dino Cortopassi, Chairman and Co-Owner of Stanislaus Food Products, Corto Olive Company, Cortopassi Farms, and Canal Ranch Farms died at 84 years old, on February 10th of complications resulting from a stroke. He died peacefully surrounded by family.
Dino was born on September 22, 1937, to Italian immigrant parents Amerigo and Teresa Cortopassi in Stockton, CA. After graduating from Stockton High School in 1954, Dino went on to graduate with his AA from University of California, Davis. In 1958, Dino married his high school sweetheart Joan DeCarli and they had four children: Gino, Katie, Becky, and David.
From 1958 to 2022, Dino was involved in agribusiness and food processing. Growing up in an immigrant household, Dino absorbed the immigrant values which defined his ethics and what he expected from others. "Tell the truth, Do the right thing, Keep your word, Never cut corners, and don't back away from a fight". Dino was proud of his Italian heritage, and was also proud to be an American, with respect for competition and fairness.
Dino's farming and business philosophy can be distilled into these elements: 1) adopt new technologies first; 2) calculate your risks and then take them; 3) play fair and be fair; 4) Never back down from a fight.
Dino's venture into Farming. Dino got his "scratch start" farming 65 acres of rented land with his brother Alvin Cortopassi using farm equipment borrowed from family friends. Dino farmed numerous row crops including tomatoes used for canning. Dino was an "early adopter" of the emerging tomato genetics and mechanical harvesting technology developed by at UC Davis in 1959. As the US ended its guest worker program with Mexico in 1964, Dino's ability to mechanically harvest tomatoes during a farm labor shortage allowed him to earn above-average prices from canneries short of tomatoes. Dino plowed his gains back into renting additional acres and buying more harvesters and ultimately increased his farming operation 100-fold.
Play fair and be fair, and never back down. Dino embraced a sense of fairness and competition throughout his life and business career. He often played David to larger Goliaths when he or others were treated unfairly. As a small green bean farmer in 1970, Dino refused to let canning giant Libby, McNeill & Libby get away with fraudulently mis-grading his bean crop's quality to drive down its contracted price. By scrupulously documenting the unethical industry practices used against himself and other farmers, Dino prevailed with a legal victory.
Farming and Business Recognition. At age 33, Dino was named one of four "Outstanding Young Farmers" in 1970. At age 36, Dino was inducted into Young Presidents Organization of outstanding business leaders in 1973.
The Tomato Canning Business?from Cal-Gift to SFP. Dino was fascinated by the concept of vertical integration, from his farm to the consumer's fork, and purchased Cal-Gift, a small bottler of Italian pickled vegetables for supermarkets. Dino quickly learned that consolidation among large supermarket chains gave them "buying power advantage" over smaller food processors like Cal-Gift. Surveying the competitive landscape, Dino noticed while the retail supermarket sales channel was controlled by large supermarket chains, the foodservice channel (that distributes to restaurants) was more fragmented, not dominated by a few "Super-Distributors". Dino thus sold Cal-Gift, that sold to the supermarkets, and along with other growers acquired the tomato canner Stanislaus Food Products (SFP) that sold to foodservice distributors. After introducing multiple SFP products nationwide, Dino bought out his fellow investors in a leveraged buyout in 1986.
As sole owner Dino had the freedom to pursue unique production and marketing approaches that others might think were too risky. On the production side Dino instituted the fullest engagement with the best tomato farmers available, producing the highest-quality tomatoes to his exacting standards, and utilized the latest technology to produce the freshest, best tasting tomato products possible. On the selling side Dino pushed "cutting cans side by side" against competitive products, so end-users could taste the difference in a fresher, better tasting product. Dino invested in and built unique brands, flavors and sauces that "stuck in the mind" of his clientele, and they came back for more. Dino also told his true family story, of being the son of immigrant Italian parents, who cared about family values and worked hard to try to "get ahead" in America, and thereby connected with many in the Pizza and Italian restaurant business who were descendants of immigrants themselves.
In another "David vs. Goliath" battle, Dino fought the large multinational tomato processors that quietly switched from traditional "freshly packed" tomato sauce brands to cheaper, lesser quality "Re-Manufactured from concentrate" process, without informing their consumers. Dino considered this classic "bait and switch" consumer fraud. With the help and support of more than 5,000 independent restaurants, Dino was victorious in changing FDA labeling laws such that all Re-Manufactured tomato sauces must declare "tomato concentrate and water" on their labeling. In 2004 Dino passed the CEO reins to Tom Cortopassi, who had previously run tomato canning production, and Dino retired from day to-day operations at Stanislaus.
The venture into Organic Tomatoes?Muir Glen. Dino founded Muir Glen Organic tomatoes with son-in-law Brady Whitlow in 1991--Muir Glen became the first national brand of organic tomatoes sold in supermarkets. As a farmer himself, Dino knew that the intensive cultural practices involved in organic farming necessitated a higher price. But because there were no national organic tomato standards, other producers could grow non-organic tomatoes, slap an "Organic" label on them, and charge more, an example of "bait and switch", that put honest producers at a disadvantage. To prevent this kind of cheating the customer, Dino and his team were instrumental in writing the nation's first organic tomato standards that are still in place today. Muir Glen was later sold to General Mills in 2001.
A new way to grow olives?the Corto Olive story. Creative new cultural practices for planting and harvesting olives were developed in early 2000s, involving denser plantings, machine harvesting and earlier harvesting. Always the early adopter, Dino founded Corto Olive Company in Lodi in 2006 to use these new practices to produce ultra high-quality extra-virgin olive oil. Corto processes an ultra-premium brand of fresh Fall harvest olive oil, that is now the #1 brand of extra virgin olive oil in the foodservice market. Unlike traditional European olive groves whose climate, cultural and harvesting practices require a "late harvest", Corto's denser plantings and mechanized harvesters allow earlier "one pass" olive harvest, at the peak of olive freshness and flavor.
In yet another "David and Goliath" battle, Dino led the California olive oil industry's efforts to expose fraudulent supermarket misbranding of inferior imported olive oils as "extra virgin" quality when they were not of that quality. In 2010 UC Davis validated Dino's claims, in their published study showing that more than 73% of the five top-selling imported brands failed international sensory standards for extra virgin olive oil. Dino's son-in-law Brady Whitlow has been Corto's CEO since 2007.
Lifetime Recognition. In 2005, at age 69, Dino was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association in Washington, D.C., that recognizes those individuals who had overcome adversity and ultimately succeeded.
Politics and Charity and wild habitat. In his later years Dino became increasingly devoted to economic responsibility in politics and charities. He crusaded for the water security of the California Delta in 2011-21. Dino launched California Proposition 53 to eliminate State Revenue Bonds, a blank check for the State of California to fund billion-dollar infrastructure projects without voter approval. Although proposition 53 failed by less than a 1% margin 50.6% to 49.4% in 2016, it changed the mindset of Sacramento. Dino and wife Joan founded the Cortopassi Family Foundation which supports 'boots on the ground' charities in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, and the Wetlands Preservation Foundation, to support wild habitat development.
Managing succession. Dino was a strategist, who believed in the spirit and benefits of partnership, he thus picked the most competent and dedicated key managers and family members to become shareholders in farming and processing operations which remain in good hands.
Dino's favorite sayings. In a lifetime of striving and adversity, failure and success, Dino collected many pithy sayings that speak to the core of his philosophy of life that he often shared with family and business colleagues:
On Truth and Quality:
- Nothing sells like the truth.
- When in doubt, tell the truth, it's easier to remember.
- You can't make good wine from bad grapes.
- Loyalty is a two-way street.
- Life is a banquet at which many go hungry.
On Estimation, Forecasting, Opportunity and Risk Management:
- Arithmetic is not an Opinion.
- What gets measured gets done.
- Chance favors the prepared mind.
- Get in position to get lucky.
- Stay focused on the big end of the cow.
- Hunt where the ducks are.
- The trend is your friend, don't fight it.
- Bet on the Champ 'til he loses, he's a champ for a reason.
- To prevent forest fires, look for wisps of smoke.
On Strategy and Obstacles:
- If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.
- Great Strategy with mediocre tactics trumps mediocre strategy with great tactics.
- Life is full of opportunities disguised as insoluble problems.
- Good judgement comes from experience: experience comes from having bad judgment.
Dino is survived by wife Joan, four children, and ten grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to: The Salvation Army Lodi Corps and/or St. Mary's Dining Room in Stockton. A private service will be held by the family.