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Roy F. Farmer, 87; Built Family Coffee Company
By Jerry Hirsch
Times Staff Writer
March 17, 2004
Roy F. Farmer, the strong-willed patriarch who transformed a small family
business into one of the West's largest commercial coffee roasters, died
Tuesday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 87.
Farmer, who was chairman of Torrance-based Farmer Bros. Co., died at home,
company officials said.
The company has not named a successor. For five decades, Farmer served as
chief executive of the business founded by his father in 1912, pushing the
company into 28 states. He relinquished the CEO post last year to his son,
Roy E. Farmer.
"It is a sad day for the coffee industry. Roy Farmer was a real pioneer,"
said Pedro Gaviña, president of F. Gaviña & Sons, a rival regional coffee
company based in Vernon.
Farmer was known for being an early proponent of the use of high-speed
packaging equipment and continuous-feed roasters to process coffee and slash
expenses. He also had the company maintain its own fleet of trucks to supply
its satellite sales offices and to ensure Farmer Bros. had control over its
distribution and transportation costs.
A hands-on executive who in his younger days effortlessly hauled 132-pound
burlap sacks of green coffee beans around the company's Torrance roasting
plant, Farmer spent his entire working life at his family's business, except
for service in the U.S. Army during World War II.
During his long tenure — Farmer joined the company full time after
graduating from Manual Arts High School in 1935 — he did everything from
driving trucks to roasting coffee to overseeing sales efforts.
In 1952, Farmer took Farmer Bros. public, selling stock and raising the
funds needed to pay estate taxes upon the death of his father and to launch
the company's expansion throughout the Western United States.
Under his leadership, Farmer Bros. grew from 380 employees and annual
revenue of about $15 million to more than 1,100 employees and about $190
million in revenue today. The company has a stock market value of more than
$500 million, making it one of the largest publicly traded food processors
based in California.
Although he earned millions of dollars in salary during his later years as
chief executive, Farmer maintained a spartan lifestyle. He kept his cars for
a decade or more and he had lived with his wife, Emily, in a modest home in
Ladera Heights for the last three decades. He refused to talk to the news
media or the Wall Street investment community about the business.
Farmer also was known for his passionate devotion to the company, which on
occasion landed him in trouble with outside shareholders and even relatives.
He once attempted to keep his sister, Catherine Crowe, off the board of
directors, sparking a decades-long family feud that ended only recently when
the company bought out the interests of the Crowe family in December for
$111 million.
"Farmer Bros. was Roy's life's work," said Lew Coffman, a member of the
company's board since 1983 and its former vice president of sales.
Coffman said the two didn't always agree, but he appreciated how well Farmer
managed "a company that grew beyond anyone's expectations."
"He tried to put the right people in the right jobs, and let them do their
work," he said.
Farmer is survived by his wife of 58 years, Emily; four children, Carol
Farmer-Waite, Jeanne Farmer-Grossman, Roy E. Farmer and Richard Farmer; and
four grandchildren.
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Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
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