Longtime New York produce wholesaler and importer Sal Vacca, who died March 22, 2023, at the age of 93, appears to be one of those rare people who was universally respected and loved. “Sal was the nicest man I have ever met in my whole life… a true gentlemen,” said Thomas J. Tramutola of A&J Produce Corp., a wholesale operation located on the same Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, NY, as Mr. Vacca’s AJ Trucco produce house.

Another industry colleague, Matthew D’Arrigo, owner of D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York, was equally clear in his assessment. “Sal Vacca was the last of the generation of great New York produce wholesalers whose business career straddled the old produce world of the Washington Market and the new world market of Hunt’s Point,” he said.