The following is a statement from President, Peter Kopke Sr. regarding Paul Wigand’s passing:
“On Saturday October 17 the fruit import industry lost one of its most illustrious experts. Paul Wigand, who was with William H Kopke Jr. Inc. for 40 years passed away at the early age of 68.
Paul started working as a very young man on the piers and then transferred to the office where he handled allocation of the millions of boxes of fruit that we handled every year.
He traveled with Peter Kopke Sr. to all of the origins of the imported fruit such as Chile, Peru, Argentina, Spain, etc. for 40 years.
During the course of his lifetime he became an expert in all aspects of the shipping, growing, packaging and handling of the fruit from these various origins. He got to know hundreds of growers and exporters during his journey and was respected for the competence and integrity he had.
I personally have lost my loyal and devoted colleague who joined me in handling all the challenges of the past 40 years. It is with profound sadness and admiration that we say goodbye to this extraordinary person.”
Peter Kopke Sr.
President, Kopke Fresh