Trade group recognizes Basil Mills            
Western Growers to give Salinas agribusinessman Award of Honor
"The Californian" By Brian Gaylord. November 4, 2002

Basil Mills’ name is synonymous with Salinas Valley Agriculture.

He founded Salinas grower-shipper Mills Inc in 1958 as Mills Distributing Company and has been a major industry figure in Salinas Valley.

Irvine-based Western Growers Association will bestow an Award of Honor to Mills at the trade group’s 77th annual meeting in La Quinta from Nov. 10-13. The Award of Honor recognizes a member who has distinguished himself in the agriculture industry and the community.

"It’s (Western Growers) like a large family," Mills said, adding that competitors turn into best friends and that you work on mutual problems together.

This year marks Mills’ 50th year in California and Arizona agriculture, and he said he feels "very privileged to have been part of this great industry" and that WGA "is well respected in Sacramento and Washington, D.C."

Mills is a co-founder of WGA Charitable Trust and the National Steinbeck Museum, and serves as the museum’s president.

Tom Nassif, president of Western Growers, said Mills personifies selfless giving and dedication.

"He has always been an advocate for our industry and represented it with dignity and acumen," Nassif said.

Mills is a past-chairman of Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association of Central California, past-president of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, a member and past-president of Salinas Rotary Club and past board member of the Center for Community Advocacy, F.O.O.D. Crops, Inc. – now Ag Against Hunger – and Friends of the Monterey County Fair.

But his involvement in the community doesn’t stop at agriculture industry. He served on the boards of trustees of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. He also serves on the President’s Council of California State University, Monterey Bay, is a member of the executive committee of the United Way of Monterey County and chairs the Alexis de Tocqueville society.

He is a member of the advisory boards of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation’s First Tee, the Salvation Army Salinas Corps, Legal Services for Seniors and the Foundation for Monterey County Free Libraries.

Mills has received numerous community awards including, the Salinas Area Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year, the Chamber’s Ag Leadership Award and Distinguished Trustee of the Community Foundation for Monterey County. In 1999, he was honored as Distinguished Fellow in Agribusiness by CSUMB.

In 1996, he and his wife, Eve, were named Volunteers of the year by United Way of Salinas Valley and Philanthropists of the year by the Development Executives Network and the National Society of Fundraising Executives Monterey Bay Chapter.

Mills Distributing Company was the recipient of the 1988 Salinas Area Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Agribusiness and the Salinas Valley and Chamber of Commerce 1997 Outstanding Business of the year.

At 72, Mills considers himself semi-retired.

"I work half of the time with non-profits," he said. He still has his hand in with Mills Family Farms and still serves on several WGA committees.