Leo Rolandelli, an early champion of asparagus, who is credited with developing Mexico’s asparagus industry, thus helping create year-round supply for U.S. consumers, died Oct. 31. He was 77.

Mr. Rolandelli started in the produce industry in 1963, often driving his boss around the California Delta. It was there that he met many growers and realized the potential of asparagus. By the end of 1963, he had left his job and went to work at Jacobs, Malcolm & Burtt. Five years later, he purchased JMB and immediately helped make the then 80-year-old company a fixture on the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market.

In addition to his work at JMB, he served as president of the market’s merchant association, where he worked with many other Bay Area merchants, including his own competitors, to improve the visibility, marketing, and development of their brand names and products.

“Leo was a mentor and confidant to many of us whom came up under him in the asparagus industry,” said Dan Miller, production manager at JMB.

In the 1970s, Mr. Rolandelli was a key figure in shifting JMB’s primary product interest from general produce to asparagus. From there, he worked tirelessly to help evolve the industry and train American consumers to think of the spear-shaped vegetable as an everyday diet staple rather than a specialty product.

“I imagine it was not an easy thing, to take on such a big role at the market while running his own very active business. But it’s a position that he took seriously and something he really believed in,” said Michael Janis, the current general manager of SFWPM. “He really was of the mindset that a rising tide lifts all ships. He understood the value of that sort of work. He knew it was critical. He was extraordinary. He was a really good collaborator, a great leader. They just don’t make men like him anymore.”

After selling JMB’s street operations to one of his longtime employees in 2012, Mr. Rolandelli spent the last decade developing and growing the brokerage arm of his company. By focusing solely on shipping and supplying -- and leaving the growing side of things to established growers with quality product -- he invested in a business model that echoed his longtime commitment to the greater good.

With this partnership format, JMB consciously works to put money back into its growers’ local economies, which, in turn, helps those growers fund more efficient ways to grow, harvest, and store product, creating a cyclical effect of continuous, conscious improvement of the asparagus industry at large.

“Leo will long be remembered as one of the originators who helped so many families figure out how to market asparagus,” said Jens Hutchens of JMB International. “He was the last member of his generation that helped to promote fresh green asparagus in everyday use.”

Mr. Rolandelli is also credited with investing in the development of Mexico’s asparagus industry at a time when many of his peers balked at the thought. In spite of vocal concerns from some of the growers and merchants he worked with, he had the foresight to understand that growing Mexico’s asparagus infrastructure could only serve to supplement American-grown product, ultimately creating a year-round supply chain and win-win situation for American and Mexican growers as well as asparagus retailers and their customers.

Mr. Rolandelli would typically source asparagus from the California Delta, but as the years went by, he realized that the Delta would not be able to produce enough “grass” to meet the growing demand in the country. He then approached his old friend, Don Smith, and convinced him to being growing asparagus in Turlock, which had ideal conditions for growing asparagus.

Again, Mr. Rolandelli noted that asparagus was becoming even more of a staple in homes, so he set his sights toward Peru and Chile as sources for asparagus. Realizing that there were transportation issues involved with sourcing from South America, he tapped into Mexico as a key source.

”Working next to Leo has been a great experience and one that I will never forget,” said Chris Brazeel, sales manager at JMB. He was ‘old school,’ and those who knew him had tremendous respect for him in the produce industry and for just being a great person. Unfortunately, we do not see many people like him anymore. I know I will miss him dearly and he will definitely be missed by all who have been fortunate enough to know or come in contact with him.”

Mr. Rolandelli is survived by his wife of 55 years, Patricia Rolandelli; his three children, Craig Rolandelli, Cheri Rolandelli, and Crista Groves; and six grandchildren, Stephen, Sean, Ethan, Michael, David, and Christopher.