Gene Benedetti, a Sonoma County farm boy who became a World War II hero and later a devoted family man, successful businessman and community leader, epitomized the nation builders known as "the greatest generation.''

Benedetti, founder of Petaluma's Clover-Stornetta Farms and patriarch of a family that long has been part of Sonoma County's social and political fabric, died Friday at a Santa Rosa hospital. He was 86. Family members said Benedetti died of complications from pneumonia, battling the disease for the past five weeks. Shortly before he came down with pneumonia, Benedetti attended Clover-Stornetta's Christmas party, leading 400 people in a rousing round of "God Bless America,'' his favorite song.

"Dad had an insatiable love for this country, a love that really came to fruition after his experiences during World War II,'' said son Dan Benedetti of Petaluma, who followed his father as president and then board chairman of Clover-Stornetta Farms, the Bay Area's largest independent dairy processing company.

As a Navy officer and skipper of the lead landing craft in the American invasion of Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944, Benedetti survived what he would always remember as "the worst and longest day of my life.'' It was an experience that shaped his life, but one that he didn't talk much about until recent years.

After returning home, Benedetti channeled his energies into raising a family, earning a living and making Sonoma County a better place to live. Like many members of that generation, he looked to the future, not the past.

"After Normandy, I never think about yesterday and I never worry about tomorrow,'' Benedetti said in interviews marking milestones of the D-Day invasion.

Benedetti was an astute businessman who built a dairy products empire with the Clover-Stornetta brand. Under Benedetti's stewardship, Clo, Clover's cartoon cow, became a community icon known for her corny puns and toothy, bovine grin.

For decades, advertising executive Jim Benefield of Santa Rosa handled the Clover account, working hard to corral both Clo and Benedetti.

"Hearing that Gene is gone leaves a huge void. He was a crusty old rascal and I'll miss him very much,'' Benefield said Friday. "I worked with him for 23 years, and we would fight over every aspect of Clover's advertising, then go out and have a martini and laugh about it.''

Benefield said Benedetti had a legendary life that was well lived.

"Gene was unique, a Navy hero at Normandy, a dedicated family man, a loyal friend and a shrewd businessman,'' Benefield said. "In a fiercely competitive field, he not only kept Clover-Stornetta in the battle, he made it thrive.''

A gregarious guy, Benedetti worked crowds like a veteran politician, slapping backs and giving a handshake so firm it hurt. He called men "Buck'' and women "Doll'' and, because of his abiding spirit, no one was offended.

Benedetti was born Dec. 19, 1919, in a small farmhouse in Sonoma, the youngest of three children of Italian immigrants Giocando and Pia Benedetti. The family later lived on a ranch in Santa Rosa before saving enough to buy their own farm, a 13-acre spread in Cotati. The Benedettis operated a dairy and raised livestock and poultry on the diversified farm where Gene Benedetti would develop his lifelong work ethic and deep understanding of agriculture.

The small farm, which members of the Benedetti family jokingly called the Ponderosa of Sonoma County, later became Benedetti's home, an outpost where family and friends were always welcome. Benedetti and his wife, Evelyn, who died in 2004, were known for their hospitality.

"For me, visiting Gene and Evie's house was like ascending to Camelot,'' said godson Doug Pricer. "Evie was always beautiful and gracious. Gene was always welcoming and generous. There was always great food and warm fellowship. Anyone who walked through Gene's door, be it the president or the porter, were family. He loved us all.''

Benedetti attended Cotati schools and went to Petaluma High School. A gifted athlete and a born competitor, he became a football star at Petaluma High, Santa Rosa Junior College and the University of San Francisco. At USF, he participated in a history-making sporting event, playing center against a Stanford team coached by Clark Shaugnessy that used the T-formation for the first time.

At war's end, Lt. Benedetti came home to a job as assistant football coach and history instructor at SRJC.

George Dondero, manager of Petaluma's California Cooperative Creamery, was looking for young veterans who knew the area and could speak Italian because there were many Italian dairy farmers in the area and the cooperative wanted their milk. Dondero offered Benedetti a job as a milk buyer. To sweeten the deal, he played upon Benedetti's love of football, offering to help him establish a semipro team in Petaluma.

The result was the Petaluma Leghorns, a Benedetti-coached powerhouse that dominated semipro football in the Bay Area for 10 pre-TV years between 1948 and 1958.

Benedetti's Leghorns, playing to crowds as large as 5,000 at Petaluma's Durst Field, became a Bay Area football legend. In 1948, they scored 398 points in 12 games, third-highest in the nation behind only the San Francisco 49ers and the University of Nevada.

As TV and pro sports caught America's fancy, the Leghorns faded and finally folded in 1958.

But Benedetti found his star rising in the North Bay milk industry.

He succeeded Dondero as co-op manager in 1955. With six partners, he bought the co-op's Clover dairy brand, which dates back to 1913, acquired Stornetta Dairy in Schellville and established Clover-Stornetta Farms in 1977.

In addition to his son Dan, Benedetti is survived by another son, Gene "Herm'' Benedetti of Sonoma; his daughters, Michele Moss of Santa Rosa, Bonna Benedetti-Flynn of Petaluma, Donna Benedetti of San Francisco and Gina Benedetti of Petaluma; his sister, Millie Libarle of Cotati; 12 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Petaluma.

Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Parent--Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory. A vigil service will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the Clover-Stornetta Endowment Fund, in care of the Community Foundation Sonoma County, 250 D St., Suite 205, Santa Rosa 95404, or to the Dante John and Gene Benedetti Scholarship Fund, in care of the University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco 94117.

Tim Tesconi

Petalumans will pay final tribute today to Gene Benedetti, who grew from Cotati farm boy to become one of Sonoma County's most beloved and distinguished citizens.

Benedetti died at a Santa Rosa hospital on Friday of pneumonia. He was 86. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. today at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

"He was the epitome of community," said his son, Dan Benedetti. "He loved people and people loved him. A testimony of how great an impact he had on the community is the unequaled response the company and the family has had from the community."

Benedetti said his father and his generation set an example that the current generation will find difficult to emulate.

"It is up to us to take the example they set, look at ourselves in the mirror, learn from what came before, and recommit ourselves," he explained.

"He was a guy who thought of everybody else," said his close friend and former neighbor and teammate, Bob Acorne. "He changed more lives than he ever knew."

"He was loyal, he was tough, he was loving, he was generous -- pick any adjective you want, that was Gene," said his friend of 60 years, Don Ramatici. "His passing is the end of an era.

"He was a natural-born leader. He just had a way that made people want to follow him.

"He was a wonderful man," said friend and business associate John Dado. "His passing is a real loss."

"He was a wonderful, generous man," said Fran Burke, who played for Benedetti when he coached the legendary Petaluma Leghorns semi-pro football team and called him a friend for more than 50 years.

"He would greet all the women with, 'Hi, Doll. How are you?' and all the men with 'Hi, Buck. How are you?' He had a way that made everyone feel comfortable."

Ralph Pelton, one of the original Leghorns, remembers the birthday party the team threw for Benedetti when all the women showed up with pins bearing the picture of a doll and all the guys arrived with pins picturing a buck.

Pelton remembered Benedetti's absolute integrity. "He would never try to bull you around," he said. "He was so honest, and if you weren't honest with him, he didn't want you around. He just plain liked people."

Benedetti was born Dec. 19, 1919 in Sonoma, the youngest of three children to be born to Italian immigrants Giocando and Pia Benedetti.

He grew up on the family's 13-acre ranch in Cotati and attended Cotati schools until he entered Petaluma High School.

"I remember him telling me about how he would have to do chores in the morning -- feed the pigs and chickens and milk the cows," Burke said. "If it took him too long, he would miss the bus and have to hitchhike to Petaluma High. He was often late. Fortunately, he had a first-period study hall."

Benedetti arrived at school on time often enough to complete his education and become a football standout at Petaluma High School. He followed up his high school career by playing for Santa Rosa Junior College before moving on to the University of San Francisco, where he continued to star.

He was very proud and appreciative of the educational opportunities offered him and remained a strong supporter of Petaluma High, SRJC and USF throughout his life.

His life, like that of so many others of his generation, was interrupted by World War II. Benedetti chose the Navy and on June 6, 1944, he found himself skippering a landing craft delivering troops to Omaha Beach.

Although he didn't enjoy talking about his war experiences -- he once told the Argus-Courier, "D-Day is nothing I want to remember or talk about" -- he was gracious enough to grant several interviews on various D-Day anniversaries.

"We were not fired on until we hit the beach. Then all hell broke loose. It was a very disastrous first landing. The beach was taken right away, but it was a battle," he told reporter Lois Pearlman in June 2004, the 60th anniversary of the battle.

Benedetti's boat was damaged during the initial landing at Omaha Beach, but he survived and later returned to France to help unload supplies. He was awarded a Silver Star for his service.

Although Benedetti survived the war, he lost a brother, Dan, who was killed in the battle of Guadacanal. He also lost a friend who was killed at Anzio.

What began as a kindly gesture of consoling the friend's widow grew into love and a marriage that lasted 60 years until Evelyn Benedetti's death in 2004.

Back from the war, Benedetti put the horrors behind him and settled down to what he thought would be a life of coaching and teaching, starting at Santa Rosa Junior College.

While giving a talk as a representative of the SRJC coaching staff, the young veteran caught the attention of George Dondero, manager of the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery.

Dondero offered Benedetti a job with the creamery, agreeing to double the salary the young veteran was making at SRJC. Even that might not have been enough had the creamery manager not also agreed to allow Benedetti time to form a Petaluma town football team.

Working with Acorne, who he had known since junior high school, Benedetti put together a team of local players whose original commitment was for one game -- an Armistice Day contest against the USF junior varsity. The Leghorns played well, but USF, led by former St. Vincent High School star Lee Vyenielo, played better and won, 19-7. Vyenielo would later become a star with the Leghorns.

The game was a huge success, attracting a record crowd to Petaluma High's Durst Field. It also resulted in the Leghorns becoming a full-time team and Benedetti becoming a full-time coach.

"The thing we always kidded Gene about was being quarterback in that first game," explained Acorne. "He threw two passes for touchdowns -- both were scored by USF. After that, he stuck to coaching."

The Leghorns became a huge part of Petaluma life and a major part of Benedetti's life as he coached friends and young players in football and life.

"He helped a lot of kids with their problems," said Acorne.

"I've never met a more generous man in my life. If there was any way to help, he was there to help," said Ramatici. "He really loved people. He was a doer. He got things done."

One of the things Benedetti got done was to get standout football player Ramatici to attend USF. "I was all set to go to St. Mary's," Ramatici recalled. "Then I got a call from Gene, who said he wanted to talk to me at the creamery. He put me on the phone with the USF coaches and before I left the room I committed to go to USF. It was one of the best moves I've ever made."

"He was a good friend as well as a coach," Burke remembered. "If a guy needed someone to talk to, he could talk to Gene."

Burke was just one of many players Benedetti assisted with more than advice, helping them find jobs, and many Leghorn standouts worked at least for a while at the creamery.

"He never forgot you," said Pete Mazzucchi, who played for the Leghorns after Benedetti stepped down as coach, but remembers him fondly. "Years later, if you ever needed a favor, you could pick up the phone and call him. He could get things done. He was a class act and did a lot for the community."

Dado remembers that Benedetti not only coached, but also did just about everything else for the Leghorns, including taping players' feet in his own home prior to games.

Benedetti coached the Leghorns until 1951 and remained closely associated with the team until pro sports, television and other forms of entertainment brought about its demise in 1958.

While he was achieving success coaching the Leghorns, he was also achieving success in the business world.

In 1955, he became manager of the California Cooperative Creamery.

In 1977, he joined six partners in buying the Clover dairy brand and acquired Stornetta Dairy in Schellville, establishing Clover-Stornetta Farms.

The new enterprise employed a strong marketing campaign, led by company icon Clo the Cow, to become one of the North Bay's most successful business operations.

It was also one of the most generous companies in Sonoma County. Under Benedetti's leadership, Clover-Stornetta contributed to events and organizations throughout the North Bay.

Among his many activities, Benedetti was also one of the founding directors of the Bank of Petaluma.

"He was a very astute businessman," said Dado, who helped with the accounting when Clover-Stornetta was formed, and again with the formation of the Bank of Petaluma. "He understood marketing and the importance of being part of the community.

"I don't think he or Clover-Stornetta ever said no to anything."

Acorne introduced Benedetti to Rotary and he was an active and important contributor to the success of the Rotary Club of Petaluma until his most recent illness. Less than a month ago, he led Rotarians in a rousing rendition of his favorite song, "God Bless America."

He was succeeded as president and board chairman of Clover-Stornetta by his son, Dan, although Gene retained the designation as chairman emeritus of the board of directors.

He is survived by sons Dan Benedetti of Petaluma and Gene "Herm" Benedetti of Sonoma; daughters Michele Moss of Santa Rosa, Bonna Benedetti Flynn of Petaluma, Donna Benedetti of San Francisco and Gina Benedetti of Petaluma; sister Millie Libarle of Cotati; 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorial contributions to the Clover-Stornetta Endowment Fund in care of the Community Foundation of Sonoma County, 250 D St., Suite 205, Santa Rosa 95404, or to the Dante John and Gene Benedetti Scholarship Fund in care of the University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco 94117.

John Jackson

© Petaluma Argus Courier.

Published - January 14, 2006

Gene Benedetti – founder of Clover Stornetta Farms