Kenneth R. Graves, a lifelong South Florida agriculturist, passed away on December 22, 2025, at the age of 93.
Born in Miami at Victoria Hospital on October 30, 1932, he was the eldest son of John and Catherine Graves of Maine and Georgia, respectively.
Kenneth spent his childhood growing up in Florida City and Homestead. When he was ten years old, Ken knew his airplane types so well he was drafted as a spotter, along with others, at the Homestead Observation Post during WWII for his uncanny ability to correctly identify airplanes flying overhead.
As a teenager, Ken drove an old concrete truck around town delivering to job sites before he had a driver’s license and operated a machine that dug up pine tree stumps where land was being cleared to build and farm. The stumps were loaded onto trains and shipped to Savannah, Georgia, to be processed for turpentine.
During his lifetime, Homestead transformed from a tiny outpost of several thousand, which served as a base for Flagler’s railroad to the Keys as well as nascent farming families, into a booming city with many thousands today.
Kenneth served in the United States Army before earning a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from the University of Florida, where he met his wife, Nancy. They married in 1957 and shared 63 years together until her passing in 2020.
He began his career with S&M Farm Supply, later founding 27 Farms, which was a winter growing service for major Midwestern grain companies, such as Cargill and Pioneer, in the development of their hybrid seed corn programs. He also grew sweet corn, sunflower, soybeans, and many different varieties of tobacco for seed production.
In 1980, he purchased Norman Brothers Produce with his partner, David Nelson, and later started Florida Specialties, a produce packing and shipping company.
He was a longtime member and past president of the Dade County Farm Bureau and remained active in the Florida Farm Bureau. He was part of a tight-knit group of growers in the area and all over the country. In 2003, he was honored as Agriculturist of the Year by the Dade County Farm Bureau and the Florida Nurserymen Growers Association.
Kenneth served on the Board of Directors of Community Bank of Homestead, was a trustee of Fairchild Tropical Garden for more than 30 years, and also served on the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery Botanical Center.
He is survived by his daughters, Suzanne, Virginia Schwebach (Todd), and Bonnie, and his grandchildren, Taylor and Trevor.
