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HERBERT
A. FAIRBANK
An
official connection with the California Fruit Distributors af- fords
notable evidence of the prominence to which Mr. Fairbank has attained in
the horticultural activities of the state. Further testimony concerning
the same appears in his forceful association with the Producers' Fruit
Company of Sacramento. The organization of this prosperous concern came
as the result of his initiative. Success came through his laborious
application and care in every detail. From the year 1892, when his
energetic efforts made effective the opening of the business, up to the
present time, when the company ships an average of seventeen hundred
cars of fruit per annum, the history of the business has been one of
steady growth and prosperous development. In the early years of the
company's existence he held the office of vice-president, but in 1908 he
was elected president, and this office he still holds, while in addition
he has served from the first as manager of the concern and has handled
with skill the constantly increasing business.
Although he came to
the west from Texas and prior to his residence in the Lone Star state
had been engaged in business in South Dakota, Mr. Fairbank claims
Illinois as his native commonwealth. His birth occurred April 19, 1860,
his parents having been John B. and Ruth B. Fairbank, being descended
from Jonathan Fayerbanke, of Dedham, Mass., whose father came from
England to Massachusetts about 1631. Primarily educated in the grammar
schools of Jacksonville, Ill., he later took the regular course in the
high school and was graduated in 1876, after which he continued his
studies in Illinois College for three years. Upon starting out to earn
his own way in the world he went to Sioux Falls, S. Dak., and engaged in
the wood and coal business until 1883. During the two following years he
carried on a lumber business at San Antonio, Tex., but in 1885 he
disposed of the enterprise, closed out his interests there and removed
to California. In San Francisco he served as secretary of the California
Fruit Union until 1888, in which year he re- signed and removed to
Sacramento, the center of his subsequent business activities. In this
city he acted as manager of the National Fruit Association, a concern
composed of twenty-seven eastern firms, organized under their above
title through his personal efforts. The position with them he resigned
in 1892 in order to devote his time to the organization of the
Producers' Fruit Company. The establishment of a home of his own dates
from the residence of Mr. Fairbank in South Dakota, where at Sioux
Falls, September 6, 1882, he was united with Miss Lillian E. Buck, a
popular and cultured young lady of that city. One daughter blessed their
marriage, Gladys, now the wife of W. H. Dement and a resident of
Berkeley. The religious sympathies of the family are with the
Congregational Church and they have contributed with constant generosity
to the missionary movements* of the denomination. In his political views
Mr. Fairbank always has supported the Republican party, but at no time
has he sought official honors or aspired to the activities incident to
public life. Of recognized culture and breadth of mind, he has been a
welcomed guest in the most select circles of the community. The Sutter
Club has received his support as an active member and his social
relations are enlarged through membership in the Union League of San
Francisco. The Masonic Order has received his sympathetic support in the
varied philanthropies that mark its existence, he being a member of the
Knights Templar and Shrine, while in addition he has maintained
fraternal associations with the Woodmen.
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