Al Bernardi, a longtime veteran of the tomato industry, died April 25 at his home in Green Valley, AZ. He was 92.
Mr. Bernardi was born Jan. 8, 1927, in Firebaugh, CA, to Joe and Yolanda Bernardi, and spent his early years in Merced, Le Grand, and Madera, CA.
At age 17, Mr. Bernardi lost his father and he was responsible for raising the family tomato crop in Madera. After moving with his mother and sister, Nettie, back to Merced, he did a variety of jobs over the years including selling cars, driving delivery trucks, meat butcher, and working with local farmers.
He became very involved with the Italian Catholic Federation in Merced, learning to cook and organize large events. He met his first wife, Esther Vizzielo, at a Saturday night dance in Merced, and they wed in 1949. The couple was married for 34 years and raised five children together until Esther’s passing in 1984.
During the late 50s and early 60s, Mr. Bernardi farmed around the Merced area, eventually partnering in Tuttle Farms. After a couple of lean years, he was asked by a Florida buyer in 1969 to open a buying office in Nogales, AZ. That started a partnership in a brokerage firm, Ledlow-Cole-Bernardi Inc.
Mr. Bernardi continued to farm in the summer until 1972, when the partners sold the farmland and packingshed and he would begin his semi-annual move with his family between Merced, CA, and Nogales, AZ.
Mr. Bernardi loved the Arizona desert and loved the fast pace of the rapidly growing produce business in Nogales. He loved to organize large fundraisers, serving thousands of people chicken and rigatoni dinners to benefit Sacred Heart Church and the NHS band. He also organized many barbecues for the Rio Rico and Green Valley Fire Departments.
In 1985, Mr. Bernardi married Joan Durniat and they enjoyed 27 years together traveling extensively in their RV to visit family, friends and produce customers throughout the United States and Canada. They also opened an art gallery and Christmas shop, Galleria Bernardi, in Tubac in 1990 as a retirement hobby, which quickly became a full-time job for both of them. They sold the art gallery in 1995 and moved to Green Valley to enjoy their retirement.
The couple loved to entertain in their Green Valley home, hold informative produce seminars wherever they traveled, and enjoy their friends and family. Mr. Bernardi helped to open the first branch of the Italian Catholic Federation in Arizona and cofounded the National ICF RV Club.
They moved to the La Posada Retirement Community in 2007 and continued to give back to the community and entertain friends. His La Posada friends and staff, Mangia Mangia Club members, and ICF members were all friends that became family.
Mr. Bernardi is preceded in death by his wives by wives Esther and Joan (2013); his son, Tom, and his granddaughter, Kayla.
He is survived by his son Allan (Carolyn) of Pescadero, CA; daughter in law Lee Curzon of Petaluma, CA; daughter Susan Bollinger (Bruce) of Ooltewah, TN; daughter Lori Sutton (Mark) of Atwater, CA; son Joe (Cathie) of Turlock, CA; stepdaughters Henriette Frisbie (Bert) and Jeannie Schultz (Tom); sister Nettie Pollicita of Merced, CA; and many grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Green Valley, AZ, on June 11 at 10: a.m.. and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Merced, CA, on June 13, also at 10 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Kayla Bernardi BEE Positive Foundation, PO Box 307, Turlock, CA 95382, or The Italian Catholic Federation Scholarship Fund Branch 39, PO Box 3693, Merced, CA, 95344.
