the tc tucker - Blue Diamond

THE T.C. TUCKER
COLLECTION
Welcome to the
T.C. Tucker Collection
B
lue Diamond founder J.P. Dargitz hired Thaddeus Charles
Tucker as the accountant for the California Almond Growers Exchange
in 1912, shortly after the cooperative was formed. On Dargitz’s
recommendation, Tucker was sent “on a trip East to interview the
trade, select brokers, sell what he could and thus get our machinery
in shape to close up this crop and get ready for the next.” The board
agreed and Tucker promptly packed for an extensive tour of potential
markets. Thus began the rise of T.C. Tucker as a businessman and
innovative industry leader for the Exchange.
The Tucker era began as the Exchange closed out its third successful
crop year. In February 1913, Tucker reported to the board that the
membership had been paid in full, that the cooperative would enter
the new crop year with its first surplus of $700 on the books and
that the association’s bank, encouraged by three years of successful
operations, had agreed to new, more favorable terms — terms that
Tucker welcomed, because “interest expense was one of our heaviest
items.”
Family
Pictured clockwise
from left to
right: Joan and
Bobbie Connolly,
T.C. Tucker’s
gradnchildren;
T.C. Tucker’s wife,
Ethyl Baum; bronze
coin from the 1916
Panama-Pacific
Exposition in San
Francisco; Mrs.
Tucker sitting on a
California Almond
Growers Exchange
delivery truck circa 1921 and the
Tucker family.
Pictured clockwise from top
left to right: T.C. Tucker’s son
Jack - circa 1925; T.C. Tucker
from smaller photo - circa
1922; Thelma Tucker with
her children, Bobbie and Joan
Connolly and T.C. Tucker’s
three children: Thelma, Jack
and Bill.
Thelma Tucker
T.C.
Tucker’s
only daughter, 8-yearold
Thelma
Tucker,
became the first image used
to advertise Blue Diamond
almonds in 1914. She also
made the famous train trip
to New York with her father
when he transmitted the first
transcontinental radio address
in the country. The address was
about trade and the importance of
tarriffs on European almonds.
Leadership
Board of Directors, 1923: (Front row, left to right) James
Mills, Hamilton City; General Manager T. C. Tucker; Vice
President C. D. Hamilton, Banning; President George
Pierce, Davis. (Back row) John Trembath, Antioch; Harry
Wood, Modesto; D. S. Nelson, Arbuckle; G. N. Talbot, Paso
Robles; C. C. Woodworth, Lodi; E. S. Norton, Sutter City.
Tucker in department head meeting, 1923. From left, T.C. Tucker, Professor R.H. Taylor (tariffs), F.J. Carmody (publicity),
A.C. Winslow (mailing), H.A. Michels (sales), C.C. Armstrong (membership), O.K. Hagel (accounting), and F.E. Wilcox
(sales assistant).
Working with an equally committed board of
He developed a relationship with state and federal
With Tucker at the helm as general manager for
by T.C. Tucker’s grandson, Charles Robert “Bob”
directors, Tucker expanded the market for Blue
government officials that served the cooperative
23 years, the members of the California Almond
Connolly, and his great-granddaughter, Cheryl
Diamond almonds and pioneered an industry-
well on issues of importance to the membership.
Growers Exchange powered their cooperative from
Starch, who live in the foothills off Highway 50
leading processing and manufacturing facility.
He fought hard to lower freight rates on California
wide-eyed infancy through a shaky adolescence,
above Sacramento, California.
He promoted the brand at every opportunity
almonds to better compete with lower cost imports
into self-confident maturity and leadership in the
and in innovative ways, and personally cultivated
in eastern markets. He spent thousands of hours on
almond processing and marketing industry.
customers coast-to-coast. He experimented with
the road promoting cooperation among growers
new products, packaging and market channels.
and helping form new associations of members.
memorabilia was made available to Blue Diamond
This
collection
of
photos
and
other
Commitment
Integrity
In early 1917, armed with letters of introduction, travel documents and credentials,
T. C. Tucker embarked on a commercial fact-finding and investigation trip of almond
industry market conditions in Europe. His travels included visitations to the British
Isles, France, Italy and Spain.
Innovation
Quality