Stewart Allen Resnick[1] (born December 24, 1936) is an American billionaire businessman. Resnick is the wealthiest farmer in the United States[2][3] with a net worth exceeding eight billion dollars as of 2022.[4] Resnick and his wife, Lynda Resnick, bought The Franklin Mint in 1986 and sold it in 2006.[5] Since 1979 Resnick has been the chairman and president of The Wonderful Company. He is married to Lynda Resnick, and through their holding company they own the POM Wonderful and Fiji Water brands, Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, Wonderful Halos, Wonderful Seedless Lemons, JUSTIN Wines, Landmark Wines, JNSQ Wines and the Teleflora floral wire service company.[6] Resnick holds a majority stake in the Kern Water Bank.[7][8]
Early life and education
Resnick was born in 1936,[9] and raised in a middle-class Jewish family[10] in New Jersey and later moved to California with his family in the 1950s.[9] His grandfather had immigrated from Ukraine when his father was 3.[11] In 1959, he graduated with a BS from the University of California, Los Angeles and then a JD from the UCLA School of Law.[12][13][14] While in law school, he founded his first business, a janitorial services company, which he sold in 1969.[9]
Career and companies
With the money he made from his first company, Resnick bought The Franklin Mint, a subsidiary of Roll International Corporation, in 1986.[12] Franklin Mint is known for making model cars, souvenir plates, figurines, and Civil War-inspired chess sets. Resnick served as CEO and chairman of the Franklin Mint Company until its sale in 2006.[5] Since 1979 Resnick has served as President and chairman of The Wonderful Company, formerly known as Roll Global, which owns many businesses in Central California and beyond.[12] Through this holding company he and his wife own the POM Wonderful and Fiji Water brands, Wonderful Halos, Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, JUSTIN Wines, Landmark Wines, JNSQ Wines, Suterra Pest Control[15] and the Teleflora floral wire service company.[6] Resnick sat on the board of directors of LeapFrog Enterprises from 2002 to 2005.[12]
The Resnicks purchased The Franklin Mint in 1986 and expanded the company's collectibles business through new licensing agreements. These including the Louvre art museum in Paris, the Vatican,[16] board games like Monopoly and Scrabble, classic cars, and famous people like John Wayne, Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe.[17][16] The Resnicks sold The Franklin Mint in 2006.[18]
In 2002, the Resnicks founded Pom Wonderful, a company that sells pomegranate juice in a "double-bulb" bottle. To produce the juice, they planted over 6000 acres of pomegranates in San Joaquin County, California, which nearly quadrupled the country's production of pomegranates at the time.[19]
The company also manufactures blended juice beverages, such as pomegranate juice mixed with juices of blueberry, cranberry, cherry, mango or tangerine, and bottled tea- and coffee-based beverages of various flavors distributed in more conventional containers.[20] In addition to drinks, the company sells pills and concentrated liquid products marketed as nutritional supplements.[21] In 2017, POM Wonderful acquired the pomegranate distributor Ruby Fresh.[22]
The Resnicks acquired the Fiji Water business in 2004,[23] increasing sales of Fiji Water by 300%[17] in 4 years, making it the largest imported bottled water brand in the US.[24] It comes from the aquifer on the island of Viti Levu. Through the Fiji Water Foundation the company provides clean water access to rural communities, builds educational facilities and infrastructure that benefit communities and provides access to health care services.[25][26]
Wonderful Halos
In 2013 the Resnicks launched Wonderful Halos mandarins, with a $220 million facility in the San Joaquin Valley capable of processing 19 million mandarins a day.[27] By 2017 Halos was the #1 segment brand, forecast to have around 70-80% market share by 2018.[28] In 2017, Halos accounted for around three-quarters of growth in the mandarin category, and 12% of total produce sales growth.[27]
Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds
Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds is the world's largest vertically integrated pistachio and almond grower and processor, cultivating and harvesting more than 65,000 acres of pistachio and almond orchards and delivering more than 450 million pounds of nuts globally each year.[29] Known for its Get Crackin' campaign, Wonderful Pistachios was the US's fastest-growing snack brand and the number 1 tree nut brand in 2018.[30]
JUSTIN Wines
In 2010 the Resnicks purchased Justin Vineyards and Winery, a 50,000 case-production winery in California's Central Coast region founded in 1981.[31] JUSTIN Wines specializes in Bordeaux style varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and was named the 2015 American Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.[32][33]
Personal life
He is divorced from his first wife,[9] Sandra Frazier. Since 1972, he has been married to Lynda Rae Harris.[34][35] He has three children from his first marriage: Jeff Resnick, Ilene Resnick, and Bill Resnick; and two stepchildren from his marriage to Harris: Jason Sinay and Jonathan Sinay.[9][36] They reside in Beverly Hills, California.[35]
Criticism
During the 2011–2017 California drought—also called the Great Drought—Resnick's Paramount Farms, which is part of the Wonderful Company, drilled twenty-one new wells in 2015 alone.[3] Resnick is the wealthiest farmer in the United States, with a net worth exceeding nine billion dollars according to a 2020 article in Forbes magazine, and owns a majority stake in the Kern Water Bank, one of California's largest underground water storage facilities, which is capable of storing 500 billion gallons [1.9 billion m3]. The Kern Water Bank, though privately owned, profits from water sales through publicly funded water transportation systems. The acquisition, continuing private ownership, and water sales profit from this taxpayer-developed resource infrastructure, while California suffers under drought, is controversial.[11][37] Growing water-intensive nut tree crops in the Central Valley—a single almond can require up to 1.1 US gallons (4.2 L) of water[38]—has drawn criticism during California's ongoing drought. According to Forbes magazine, the Wonderful Company uses "at least 120 billion gallons [450 million m3] a year, two-thirds on nuts, enough to supply San Francisco's 852,000 residents for a decade".[39]
In an effort to make their impact on the region more positive, the Resnicks have invested in the growth of the local economy and nutrition centers.[40][41] As the New York Times notes, "in Lost Hills there are new health centers, new pre-K facilities, new housing projects, new gardens, new sidewalks and lights, a new community center and a new soccer field."[42] They have partnered with the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project to bring water to Kern County, having spent $35 million in recent years buying up more water from nearby districts to replenish the Central Valley's supplies.[43][39]
At the same time as exporting almonds to Asia and other locations, they import Fiji bottled water from the South Pacific. Some foreign conservationists criticize the Resnicks for "hogging the archipelago's precious water supply... while island natives didn't always have water to drink themselves, due to crumbling and insufficient infrastructure."[39] However, local officials support the investment Fiji water makes in the economy as "a critical contributor to the Fijian Economy... and a gift to the Fijian tourism industry."[44]
In addition, their claims for the "POM" pomegranate drink have been contested. Forbes reported, "The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in 2010 that the Resnicks' POM Wonderful had used deceptive advertising when marketing the antioxidant-rich drink as being able to treat, prevent or reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction. In 2012 a federal judge agreed that some of the ads were misleading. In 2013 FTC commissioners denied the Resnicks' appeal. In October of 2015, the Resnicks asked the Supreme Court to take the case."[45] In May 2016 the Supreme Court declined.[46]
In 2015, it was revealed that the Resnicks and other farmers had been watering their orchards with treated fracking waste water.[47] A water recycling program in California allows oil companies to sell wastewater to landowners, including farmers like the Wonderful Company.[48]
In 2005 the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital was named for Resnick and his wife in honor of their involvement. They made a $4 million donation to Children's Hospital Central California in 2006.[56] At Caltech's 2009 graduation ceremonies, Caltech announced that the Resnicks had donated $20 million towards a "sustainability center" to be named after themselves.[57]
In September 2008, Resnick and his wife announced a $45 million gift to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for the construction of a new exhibition pavilion, as well as $10 million in artworks.[58] In 2018, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles announced the couple's $30 million gift to help pay for a renovation and expansion project.[59]
In September 2019, Resnick and his wife pledged their largest donation to date, a $750 million endowment to Caltech for climate research.[60]
In October 2022, the Resnicks pledged $50 million to the University of California, Davis for sustainability research and the establishment of the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Center for Agricultural Innovation.[61]
