Ernest J. Gallo (March 18, 1909March 6, 2007) was an American businessman and philanthropist. Gallo co-founded the

E & J Gallo Winery E & J Gallo Winery is a winery and distributor headquartered in Modesto, California. It was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo, and is the largest exporter of California wines. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest family-owned wi ...

in Modesto, California.

Early life

Gallo was born on March 18, 1909, in

Jackson, California Jackson (formerly, Botilleas, Botilleas Spring, Bottileas, Bottle Spring, and Botellas) is a city in and the county seat of Amador County, California. Its population was 4,651 at the 2010 census, up from 3,989 at the 2000 census. The city is acc ...

.Harvard Business School
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last retrieved March 6, 2007 Gallo's grandparents immigrated from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

to the United States. Gallo's father was Giuseppe Gallo, a.k.a. Joseph Edward Gallo Sr, and his mother, Assunta Bianco Gallo, a.k.a. Susie Bianco Gallo. Together with his uncle Michael, his father ran the Gallo Wine Company, a wine distribution company. His mother's family, the Biancos, were winemakers. Gallo's father operated a boarding house for the miners in Jackson, California and a saloon in Oakland, California. In 1910, at one year old, Gallo lived with his maternal grandparents, Batista Biancos, in Hanford, California. At about age 6, Gallo returned to live with his parents. After the 1918 prohibition, Gallo's father had to close the saloon business. Gallo's father bought a 120-acre ranch in Antioch, California and became a farmer growing 30 acres of grapes. Gallo worked in cultivating in the farm. By age 12, Gallo's father sold the ranch in Antioch and moved to a small vineyard in Escalon, California. In the 1920s, his parents purchased a 40-acre farm near Modesto, California. Gallo's family also bought a 20-acre farm near Keyes. Gallo's father sold their grapes in Chicago. Gallo had two brothers,

Julio Gallo Julio Gallo (March 21, 1910 – May 2, 1993) was one of two of the founders of the E & J Gallo Winery. Biography He was born on March 21, 1910, in Oakland, California to Joseph Gallo, Sr. He had two brothers: his partner in the wine business, E ...

(1910–1993), and

Joseph Edward Gallo Joseph Edward Gallo (September 11, 1919 – February 17, 2007) was an American businessman, brother of Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo, and owner of Joseph Gallo Farms, a producer of cheeses. Biography He was born on September 11, 1919, in Antioch, ...

, Jr. (1919–2007). On June 21, 1933, Gallo's father shot his mother and killed himself. Gallo graduated from Modesto High School in Modesto, California.''#645 Ernest Gallo''
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Education

Gallo attended

Modesto Junior College Modesto Junior College (MJC) is a public community college in Modesto, California. It is part of Yosemite Community College District along with Columbia College. MJC, and Columbia College, belong to the California Community College system al ...

, but he did not graduate.

Career

In 1926 at 17, Gallo worked for his father. Gallo harvested grapes and shipped them via railway to Chicago. By 18, Gallo was selling grapes in Chicago. During Gallo's travel from Chicago back to California, he met Giuseppe Franzia. In 1933, shortly after the end of prohibition and the death of his parents, Gallo co-founded the E.&J. Gallo Winery, using $5,900 in borrowed cash from his mother-in-law. He became head of sales, marketing and distribution.

Philanthropy

In 1955, Gallo created The Ernest Gallo Foundation. In 2008, Gallo donated $800k(USD) to the University of Notre Dame, $600k(USD) to Stanford University, and $3.835 million (USD) to Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. In 1980, Gallo also donated millions and created Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center in

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 ...

, at

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

Awards

*1989 Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

* 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award (given by Wine Enthusiast)

Personal life

In 1931, Gallo

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

Amelia Franzia (died 1993). They had two sons: David Gallo (died 1997), and Joseph Ernest Gallo, the CEO of the E&J Gallo Winery. Gallo was ranked 297th on the 2006

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is pub ...

list of billionaires, with an estimated wealth of US$1.2 billion. On March 6, 2007, Gallo died in Modesto, California, twelve days shy of his 98th birthday. Gallo is buried at St. Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery.

References

External links

''E. & J. Gallo Winery''Gallo Family Vineyards''Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center''

The Modesto Bee ''The Modesto Bee'' is a California newspaper, founded in 1884 as the ''Daily Evening News'' and published continuously as a daily under a variety of names. Before its purchase by Charles K. McClatchy and McClatchy Newspapers in 1924, it merged ...

**Excerpt of
Ernest_Gallo
''California Wine Industry Oral History Series'',

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

Ernest Gallo at britannica.com

FRONTLINE,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallo, Ernest 1909 births 2007 deaths American people of Italian descent People from Modesto, California 20th-century American businesspeople Wine merchants American billionaires People from Jackson, California Modesto Junior College alumni James Beard Foundation Award winners Gallo family Burials in California