PORT WASHINGTON, NY: – Peter Kopke Sr., who spent more than seven decades shaping the fruit industry, died August 5, 2026. He was 89 years of age. 

Peter got his start in the fruit business on Pier 28 in Manhattan at the fruit auctions. He was 14 years old, working summers for his father’s company, William H. Kopke Jr. Inc. He marked his prices, updated records of the entire year’s business transactions, and sent international correspondence. He joined full-time in 1958 after graduating from Brown University.