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History of Sunny Mesa
Company
Shortly after C. Max Killian began his law practice in the late
1940’s he discovered among the family assets an interest in the
packinghouse known as Sunny Mesa Citrus Growers. Originally the
operation had been a mutual packinghouse, begun by C. H. Mckellips,
Ray Killian, and some of the other early citrus growers in the Mesa
area. C. Max Killian assumed the responsibility for the legal
activities of Sunny Mesa Citrus Growers in the late 1940’s. The
Sunny Mesa Citrus Growers shipped citrus all over the world. Mesa
was well known in those days as producing some of the best tasting
Navel oranges in the world.
Consolidated Citrus consisted of Morris Coleman, Virgil Merrill, and
Chet Hoel. Sunny Mesa leased the packinghouse to them, and they
processed our fruit and their fruit on a cooperative basis. The
owner of Sunny Mesa Citrus Growers that held the most stock was J.C.
Lincoln, founder of Camelback Inn, the famous resort in Phoenix. Mr.
Lincoln and his brother owned the Lincoln Electric Company in
Chicago and he had retired to Phoenix. Over time, as they had their
monthly meetings, Mr. Lincoln befriended C. Max Killian.
Mr. Lincoln was getting old and didn’t really want to maintain the
investment any longer, so he offered to sell C. Max Killian all of
his stock. So the family purchased Mr. Lincoln’s stock and the stock
of the other owners. So Sunny Mesa Citrus Growers became a wholly
owned company of the Killian family.
Over time C. Max Killian purchased the stock from his parents and
sister and changed the name of the company to Sunny Mesa Inc. This
has become the family company, and we utilize the corporation for
managing many of our family real estate and agriculture assets.
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