Their other philanthropic interests and activities are numerous. It guarantees graduates of the programs jobs at Wonderful that pay between $35,000 and $50,000 a year. I believe we have an obligation to help those who are less fortunate, and its very satisfying to know that were leaving things better than we found them. The Wonderful Company Lynda Resnick rejects the idea that the couple wields any political power on matters of water policy. "[59], In addition, their claims for the POM pomegranate drink have been contested. An earthquake strikes a vulnerable placethe heart of Californias water distribution system, cautions the groups television ad. The company currently counts as business divisions the following brands: juice company POM . The largest local recipient of donations under the program is Wasco Union High School, which during the past twelve years has received more than $210,000 thanks to Wonderful Giving. high-quality anchor tenants. She is the brander of the empire, the final word on their Super Bowl ads, the creator of product marketing. Resnick has been married twice. Meet the California couple who uses more water than every home in Los Ten years later, during the states last great drought, they snatched up tens of thousands of acres of almond, pistachio, and citrus groves for bargain prices. Stewart and Lynda Resnicks Wonderful Co. is among a handful of honey bee farms responsible for the pollination of a third of Americans food. [53], In 2015 it was revealed that the Resnicks and other farmers had been watering their orchards with treated fracking waste water. Stewart Allen Resnick[1] (born December 24, 1936) is an American billionaire businessman. The Resnicks have long championed supporting the health of the planet and climate change initiatives so, in 2019, they pledged $750 million to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to further global environmental sustainability research. All Rights Reserved. A former child actress, Resnick dropped out of community college and started her own advertising agency at 19 years old. Her first marriage to publisher Hershel Sinay ended in divorce in 1969. [9] Resnick was designated an un-indicted co-conspirator for her role and pursued by prosecutors for two years. The donation extends the . Lost Hills Elementary School, the program's second-leading recipient, has taken in $141,000. [4][53] Resnick's second marriage is to Stewart Resnick, who is also her business partner. A $2 million gift from Lynda and Stewart Resnick, co-owners of The Wonderful Company, will establish the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Chair in Art at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Fresh off sapping the water from a Pacific island and flogging pomegranate juice with questionable health claims, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the billionaire couple behind Fiji Water and POM Wonderful, are profiting off pistachios and almonds with the same combination of marketing genius and opportunistic water grabs amid California's worst drought on record. Theyre engineers. [33][34][35], In 2005 the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital was named for Resnick and his wife in honor of their involvement. We drove to the Wonderful pistachio factory for lunch. Lynda Resnick appears in the following: Business Talk Thursday, February 19, 2009. Donald Trumps real net worth? Theyve given six-figure sums to every California governor since Republican Pete Wilson. Lynda Resnick and her husband, Stewart, also own a few other things: Teleflora, the nation's largest flower delivery service; Fiji Water, the best-selling brand of premium bottled water; Pom. By 2000 there was research published with findings regarding effects of regular pomegranate consumption. In 2018, Resnick was the wealthiest farmer in the United States. One season without water piped in from the Delta can kill an orchard that took five years to mature. [8] Franklin Mint is known for making model cars, souvenir plates, figurines, and Civil War-inspired chess sets. I did one naughty thing, she told me. Wonderful Agency And heres a key fact to consider against this backdrop: The Resnicks arent just pumping to irrigate their fruit and nut treestheyre also in the business of farming water itself. In 2005 the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital was named for Resnick and her husband in honor of their involvement. $2.5 billion, according to our most recent tally. Every year, nearly half of American households purchase products from The Wonderful Company. The University of California, Davis, today announced that philanthropists Lynda and Stewart Resnick, co-owners of The Wonderful Company, have pledged the largest gift ever to the university by individual donors. Wonderfuls robust education initiatives have enriched the lives of more than 117,000 young people in the Central Valley. What are you doing about it?. Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation. In October 2015, the Resnicks asked the Supreme Court to take the case. Lynda Resnick is to branding what Warren Buffett is to investing, Gloria Steinem wrote in 2009, in one of dozens of celebrity blurbs for Rubies in the Orchard. It wasnt the first time Resnick had pitched her products as health panaceas. Having shrewdly maneuvered the backroom politics of Californias byzantine water rules, they are now thought to consume more of the states water than any other family, farm, or company. Responding to prodding from Stewart Resnick, Feinstein sent a letter to the secretaries of the interior and commerce urging their agencies to reexamine the science behind the Delta environmental protection plan. Send any friend a story As a subscriber . The Wonderful Company :: Who We Are A former director who was fired while on maternity leave is pursuing a claim against her ex-employer The Wonderful Company, which is owned by billionaire couple Stewart and Lynda Resnick, for pregnancy discrimination and wrongful termination in a private arbitration. properties in these parks have already been purchased or leased by Fortune 500 companies and other The company invests over $50 million each year in far-reaching community development, education, and health and wellness programs across the Central Valley, throughout the nation of Fiji, and beyond, with the goal of enriching and enhancing peoples lives. Founded and co-run by Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Wonderful is a global leader in growing pistachios and almonds, America's largest citrus grower, and one of the country's biggest producers of. Both previously divorced, they met in the 1960s when she provided marketing help for his burgeoning alarm business. Brown held a press conference in which he rebranded his plan as the California Water Fix. [2], Resnick was born Lynda Rae Harris[3] to a Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland,[4][5] and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thats why we are dedicated to our role as environmental stewards, investing significant time and But the real buzz is how they rent them out. [25], In 2010 the Resnicks purchased Justin Vineyards and Winery, a 50,000 case-production winery in California's Central Coast region founded in 1981. If these plans come to pass, [the tunnels] are a complete existential threat to our communities, our people, and to the environment., But the Resnicks have never been ones to let details get in the way of a good marketing campaign. Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights. But a legal cloud has long shadowed the Resnicks water deal. Pom was an overnight sensation, doing millions of dollars in sales by the end of the following yearand cementing Resnicks status as a marketing genius. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Though California passed its first-ever groundwater regulations in 2014, water districts wont be required to limit pumping for at least another four years. Get it in your inbox every week. They can use their own profiles or yours to book meetings for you . The Resnicks met while he was president of American Protection Industries, Los Angeles, California, and she was pitching her ad agency to get his business. Its iconic brands include Wonderful Pistachios, Wonderful Halos, Wonderful Seedless Lemons, POM Wonderful, FIJI Water, JUSTIN, Landmark, and JNSQ wines, and Teleflora. Over the next 15 years, a series of wet winters left the bank flush with water: Court documents obtained by the Associated Press showed that in 2007 the Resnicks share of the bank amounted to 246 billion gallons, enough to supply all the residents of San Francisco for 16 years. [21] They made a $4 million donation to Children's Hospital Central California in 2006. products. Wonderful Agency is highly integrated in direct brand and product development decisions with ownership, In 2019 the company increased its minimum pay to $15 an hour for all of its California workers, three years ahead of the state-mandated deadline. And I think its a tragedy if the fresh fruits and vegetables that are really the medicine chest of the 21st century have to adhere to the same rules as a drug that could possibly harm you.. The company is a part of a portfolio of companies started by serial entrepreneur, Lynda Resnick. They have also partnered with the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project to bring water to Kern County,[57] spending $35 million in recent years to buy up more water from nearby districts to replenish the Central Valley's supplies. [2] Resnick and his wife, Lynda Resnick, bought The Franklin Mint in 1986 and sold it in 2006. In June 2015, Rep. David Valadao, a Republican from the Valley, introduced a bill that would force federal regulators to release more Delta water for agriculture. From the orchard to the family dinner table, The Wonderful Company is committed to helping consumers make better choices every day through a diverse range of premium, healthy products. Its true that the Golden States vast network of dams, reservoirs, and canals has served the state so well over the past 80 years that Californians have come to take it for granted. On Sunday, April 30, from 12:00 p.m.4:00 p.m., Carnegie Halls Weill Music Institute will host children ages three to ten and their caregivers to a free open house in the Resnick Education Wing that will celebrate nature, the earth and all things spring.. According to Resnick's book, sales of Fiji Water soon increased by 300%[7] by 2008, becoming the largest imported bottled water brand in the United States. She even helped, scissoring the Top Secret stamps off documents to declassify them. But the Resnicks water rights, by and large, are not senior. "[51], In addition, their claims for the "POM" pomegranate drink have been contested. This weekend during her commencement address to the 2020 and 2021 graduating classes of California State University, Fresno, Lynda Resnick - philanthropist, vice-chairman and co-owner of The Wonderful Company - is unveiling a new, $1 million fund that she and her husband, Stewart Resnick, established to inspire students to do local community service. built several lucrative businesses. Most philanthropists write checks that is the easy part. best-tasting foods are those that are from nature. I think the Wonderful Company and the Resnicks are truly the top 1 percent wrapped in a green veneer, in a veneer of social justice, says Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla of Restore the Delta, an advocacy group that represents farmers, fishermen, and environmentalists in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, east of San Francisco. Her friend, Daniel Ellsberg, asked to use her copy machine on nights and weekends in order to distribute top-secret military documents. Self-Made Female Billionaire's Company Accused Of Discriminating You . 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. Copyright 2023 Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress. If youve watched Chinatown or read Cadillac Desert, you know something about Californias complicated and often corrupt 100-year-old fight over water rights. Not so fast. In the plants nut-grading room, a few dozen seasonal employees wearing orange reflective vests and hairnets sat around folding tables evaluating samples from incoming truckloads of pistachios. And to understand how they were able to do that, you have to start with a two-inch-long minnow that smells like cucumbers. This sprawling compound in the gated community of North Beverly Park is inspired by a European chteau and was designed in the late 1990s by architect Richard Landry. They cofounded and continue to co-own the Wonderful Company, among the largest farming operations in America. grower of tree nuts, Americas largest citrus grower, and the worlds largest flower delivery service [26] In response to bad publicity regarding the Fiji brand and bottled water in general[27] Resnick introduced a promotional campaign touting an environmental policy and plans for a reduced carbon footprint through a series of press releases. The companys new, far-reaching health initiative also includes free exercise classes in the employee gym, a weekly on-site farmers market, and a program that pays people up to $2,700 a year to lose weight and keep it off. Our real estate development team is currently For the Resnicks, the work doesnt stop there. Stewart and Lynda Resnick Pledge $750M to Caltech for Sustainability Resnick was implicated in the Pentagon Papers investigation because the leaks were printed on her ad agency's photocopier. At the top of that list was Californias senior senator, Dianne Feinstein. Then they gave $221,000 to his replacement, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has called them some of my dearest, dearest friends. The $150,000 theyve sprinkled on Jerry Brown since 2010 might not seem like a lot by comparison, but no other individual donor has given more. [40], She is on the board of trustees and chair of the marketing and communications committee at the Aspen Institute. with solutions. [22], 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. consulting firms, while others played leadership roles at entrepreneurial organizations of all sizes. The Wonderful Company Lynda Resnick is vice-chairman and co-owner of The Wonderful Company, along with her husband, Stewart Resnick, who serves as chairman. In the summer of 2014, their employees quietly began conducting polling and focus groups to figure out the best way to sell Browns plan. [5][43] They reside in Beverly Hills, California. The usual stay-at-home mom is now working.. Lynda Resnick, entrepreneur behind POM and Fiji Water, shares her secrets of brand-building in her . Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. Over the last decade, Californias almond acreage has increased by 47 percent and its pistachio acreage has doubled, fueled in the latter case by the Resnicks advertising genius. The bank held up to 488 billion gallons of water, and because it sat beneath a floodplain it could be easily recharged in wet years with rainfall and surplus water piped in from the Delta. POM Queen Lynda Resnick Making the world a better place, one brand at a time. Pistachio Billionaires' Foundation Lends Millions to Business She was subpoenaed but never charged. [15], The Resnicks purchased the Franklin Mint in 1984;[11] Lynda began directing the company's international marketing efforts, a position she held until 2000. Resnick, then Lynda Sinay, began doing occasional work for the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War era. Caltech Breaks Ground on Resnick Sustainability Center
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