Sundquist, Ralph R.

Ralph Roger Sundquist was born in Galesburg, Illinois, on 5 January 1894, to the Rev. and Mrs Hjalmar Sundquist. In 1910, the family moved to the Yakima Valley because Hjalmar had health problems he thought curable in a warm, dry climate. Ralph graduated from Yakima High School in 1912 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture from the State College of Washington in 1916. A year later, he received a Master of Science degree in Horticulture from the State College. He taught biological courses for a year at Whitworth College, in Spokane, before returning to Yakima, where he taught high school for two years. About this time he married Elaine Fager.

The Sundquist family entered the apple business soon after arriving in the Yakima Valley. Around 1920, Ralph purchased his first orchard near Gleed. The Sunnyslope orchards did very well through the rest of the decade, raising a number of apple varieties for nationwide markets. These included the Starking Red Delicious. The early 1930s economic downturn nearly left Sundquist in financial ruin. In 1948, Sundquist and a colleague opened the Hansen Fruit and Cold Storage Company, in Yakima. He later established the Sundquist Fruit and Cold Storage Co. In 1966, he built a new controlled-atmosphere storage facility for processing, storing and shipping apples from his 850 acres of orchards and those of others.

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