Dan Symms (Courtesy Symms Family)

Dan Symms (Courtesy Symms Family)

Daniel Thomas Symms, great-grandson of the founder of Symms Fruit Ranch in Caldwell, Idaho, died from cancer on October 7. He was 52.

Symms grew up on the Symms Fruit Ranch until his father, Steven Symms, was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1972. His father served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two in the U.S. Senate, so Dan spent most of his teen years in Washington, D.C. After earning a bachelor’s degree in management and marketing at the College of Idaho, Dan joined Symms Fruit Ranch. He worked in many capacities, but spent most of his 30-year career in sales.

He served on the boards of the Idaho Apple Commission, the Idaho Cherry Commission, the Idaho Horticulture Society, the Idaho-Oregon Fruit and Vegetable Association, and the charitable organization Northwest Fruit.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; his parents, Steve and Frances Symms; stepmother, Loretta Symms; children John and Sally Symms and Lois Salinas; and sisters Susan Stauffer, Amy Crabtree, and Katy Senkus.