GEORGE ZANINOVICH
Vineyard-Winery-Packer
and 80,000 Orange trees
The
name of George Zaninovich is one of the most important ones in the fruit
industry of California, as he is credited with being the largest individual
owner of vineyards and citrus land in Fresno County, his holdings now
aggregating in excess of three thousand
acres, of which approximately two thousand acres are highly improved. His
firm of Zaninovich Bros. is one of the largest packers and shippers of
California fruits in this part of the state. The career of Mr. Zaninovich is an
interesting and inspiring one, as he began literally at the bottom of the
ladder, and entirely through his own efforts has become one of the most
prosperous and successful men in the State. He was born in Velo Grabje,
Dalmatia, Croatia, on January 17, 1886, son of Vincent and Katy Zaninovich. His
father passed away when he was 14 years old. He attended school in his native
country, and from early boyhood was of an ambitious nature. Not desiring to
follow in the footsteps of his forebears he came to America in 1904 with a
cousin, John Tudor, and landing in San Francisco he got a job washing dishes at
$10.00 per month. This was the inauspicious beginning of his career in America,
which during the course of the past forty years has developed into a record of
accomplishments of which there are few examples in Fresno County. Mr.
Zaninovich remained in San Francisco about four years, and during this time had
several different jobs, none of which paid very much. But of a thrifty nature
he saved $1,500.00 during this period and returned to Croatia for about two
years. He returned to San Francisco and was employed first as a second cook,
later as a chief cook in a restaurant. A sister of Mr. Zaninovich had married
in Fresno, and this brought him to the San Joaquin Valley. In association with
his brother, Martin, and two cousins, Vincent and John, he purchased a sixty
acre ranch northeast of Dinuba. Not long after another ranch of twenty acres
east of Smith Mountain was acquired by the partners, and later eighty acres
were purchased in the Poplar District of Tulare County. In 1924 the property
was divided up between Mr. Zaninovich and his brother, and his cousins. The
following year his brother was accidentally electrocuted, and since then Mr.
Zaninovich has carried on alone. He steadily added to his property holdings. He
obtained the highest market price for table grapes for the years 1926-1927. In
1928, accompanied by his wife, son and daughter, he made a trip to his native
country to visit his mother and other relatives. Mr. Zaninovich's firm which
operates under the name Zaninovich Bros., ships about ten varieties of table
grapes under the brand names "Orange Cove" and
"Metropolitan." The firm also ships oranges under the brand names
"Orange Circle" and "Metropolitan." Figs and vegetables
have also been shipped to a lesser extent. In 1936 Mr. Zaninovich, accompanied
by his wife and son, George, made another trip to Europe to see his mother.
This was the last opportunity to see her as she died in September, 1939. Mr.
Zaninovich purchased one hundred pounds of orange seed from Florida and
produced in his nursery about 80,000
trees from this seed. It was during the years of 1936-1937 when there was a
scarcity of rainfall that Mr. Zaninovich decided to plant these trees,
irrigation water having been assured. When these trees came into bearing, he
built his own orange packing house in 1941; so that in addition to being one of
the largest vineyardists in the valley he is also an important factor in the
citrus industry. So far as known this is a first instance of one man packing,
shipping and selling oranges from trees that he had developed directly from the
seed. In 1936 when juice grapes went down to $2.00 per ton, Mr. Zaninovich
built a distillery for producing grape brandy and high proof. The brandy is
marketed under the trade name "Zanbro". The distillery is now
equipped to crush and handle 250 tons of grapes per day. Mr. Zaninovich built
his own cold storage plant in 1941 to handle his table grapes, and in 1943 he
built and started to operate a box shook factory to manufacture the boxes and
containers required in the packing and shipping of his crops. The products of
Zaninovich Bros. are now directly shipped and sold in thirty-seven states,
Canada, Mexico, and the Hawaiian Islands. Mr. Zaninovich has improved many
devices used in farming and packing plants which have added to the efficiency
of his operations. In line with his business, Mr. Zaninovich is officially
connected with a number of important organizations. He is a director of the
Emperor Grape Growers of Exeter, the Irrigation District of Orange Cove, the
California Grape and Tree Fruit Association, and the Labor Procurement
Association of Orange Cove. He is Chairman of the Farm Bureau state Committee
of Thompson Table Grapes, and is president of the newly organized California
Growers Air express, a corporation of $500,00 formed for shipping by plane
fresh fruits to the eastern markets. On July 31, 1946 the corporation started operations.
Copies of articles of two corporations to handle the Zaninovich farming and
winery business in Dinuba have recently been filed in Fresno. Farming and
shipping enterprises will be controlled by the firm of Zaninovich Bros., Inc.,
capitalized at $2,500,000. The directors are George, Domina and Vincent G.
Zaninovich. The winery has been incorporated under the name of George
Zaninovich, Inc., and is authorized to issue $1,000,000 in capital stock. The
same directors will operate this concern. Mr. Zaninovich married Domina
Milasich in Fresno in 1919. Three children were born to this union: Vincent,
who has recently been discharged from the Coast Guard and is now assisting his
father in his enterprises; Pearl, a graduate of Stanford University, and now the
wife of Mr. Vinco Zulim; and George F., who attends the Menlo School in Menlo
Park. In 1939, Mr. and Mrs. Zaninovich took Vincent and Pearl for an extensive
graduation trip in this country and Canada. The wedding of Mr. Zaninovich's
daughter, which recently took place, was a notable one. The ceremony was
performed by the Rev. E. Huebbers in St. Anthony's Church in Reedley. Miss
Katherine Zarko, a cousin of the bride, was maid of honor, and there were four
bridesmaids. Mero Zulim of Vallejo was best man for his brother. Following the
wedding ceremony, four hundred guests were entertained at a supper and dance in
the ballroom at the Californian Hotel in Fresno. The newlyweds traveled to the
Canadian Rockies for their honeymoon. In 1937, Mr. Zaninovich built a summer
residential home in Shell Beach, near Pismo, California. This home was
relinquished to the Armed Forces during the war, and was occupied for over two
years by the headquarters of the Coast Infantry. There are now large numbers of
the Zaninovich family in the San Joaquin Valley, and a few years ago a reunion
of the family was held in Kingsburg. Bert Zaninovich, the first member of the
family to settle in Fresno County, entering the restaurant business in the
county fifty years ago, spoke briefly. George Zaninovich said the family came
to America from various parts of Croatia and Dalmatia, the majority from the
small Island of Hvar. He declared:
"We
came to this country as young men and women to find freedom.”