Emil Nemarnik recently turned 85 and where do you think he spent his birthday? At his desk at Pacific Coast Fruit Company buying papayas and Sun Orchard Juice. These of course were not the only items Emil has purchased in his sixty plus years in the produce business. When he and his wife opened Pacific Coast Fruit Company in 1977, Emil bought almost all the fruits and vegetables they sold. Additionally, he sold it too!
At the age of 10, Emil Nemarnik was the only child in his family of 12 to immigrate to the United States from Croatia. Emil began his produce career working in a grocery store to pay his way through college, and while there met his future bride Kathleen Spada. He continued to work in the produce industry after graduation and bought, sold and brokered produce until 1976 when the company he worked for was sold. At 50 he was out of work with five children to support. Undaunted, Emil mortgaged his house, sold his car and found a bank that would lend him money, and in 1977 Pacific Coast Fruit Company opened its doors as the smallest produce distributor in Portland with eight employees, four of which were family members.
Since then, Pacific Coast Fruit Company has grown into one of the largest independently owned produce distributors servicing the Pacific Northwest and still employs four of its original employees. However, Emil’s philosophy is as true today as it was in 1977, “take good care of your employees, customers, shippers and farmers and they will make you successful.”
Source: Pacific Coast Fruit Company
