October 3, 2024 — Victor “Buck” Sangiacomo, a Sonoma grapegrower and a founding partner at Sangiacomo Family Vineyards, a third-generation family business in Sonoma, Calif., died at the age of 92 on September 30, 2024.
Buck was a lifelong farmer with a career spanning eight decades. As a ranch manager, he helped oversee the daily operations of the family business, now one of the largest premium winegrowing businesses in California with over 1,600 acres of vineyards, all of which are certified sustainable. The family also launched a namesake wine brand in 2016.
The biggest challenge of Buck’s career came in the late 1960s when the family business shifted from cultivating pear orchards to vineyards when pear growing was no longer economically sustainable in Sonoma County. Under his guidance and his siblings, the family pioneered customized grape growing, farming according to each winemaker’s specifications, and the focus on vineyard designated wines.
“Buck was a cornerstone of our family, he led with a work ethic to be admired and a commitment to do whatever it took to make the family business prosper. He had a big heart and personality that radiated through anyone that knew him,” said Steve Sangiacomo, Buck’s nephew and third-generation partner.
Buck was born in Sonoma on July 14, 1932, to Italian immigrants Vittorio and Maria Sangiacomo. As a schoolboy he came home after class to prune pears, fig, and apple trees for an hour before settling down to do homework. As he grew older, he followed a steady progression of jobs, learning to operate a tractor, forklift, and trucks.
Buck’s natural abilities dovetailed with the family’s needs as the business evolved. He had a lifelong fascination with vehicles and machinery, particularly with regards to his pickup truck. To his final day, he spoke fondly of the 1932 Model A that he loved so well. Early in Buck’s career, he attained a Class A driver’s license that allowed him to drive a semi-truck, which he used to move equipment on the ranch and deliver fruit to wineries at harvest. Even well into his 80s, he rose at 2 a.m. during harvest, making deliveries of grapes until sunset.
During the Korean War Buck served in the Army where he drove an ambulance on the frontline. Upon his return to Sonoma Valley, he took up drag racing as a hobby and became the proud co-owner of a souped-up ’32 Roadster. Buck became a pilot in his 40s and loved to rent a Cessna 172 on Sunday mornings to fly up the coast. On occasion he even flew a plane to southern California to pick up a spare part when the farm equipment broke down. Buck served as a Schell-Vista volunteer fireman for over sixty years.
Buck was very proud of his assistance in transitioning the family business to the next generation, his nephews Mike and Steve, and niece Mia. He had no children, but thought the world of his nieces and nephews, and would do anything for them, including taking time out of his honeymoon to cheer his nephew on at a basketball game. Buck helped them grow up and blossom, teaching them to ride a bike, load pear boxes, and learn the intricacies of the family farm. Buck was fond of saying, “You have to have new blood to move the family business forward and old blood to slow the young ones down a bit.”
“An incredibly loyal family man. Buck was supportive and always encouraging you to take a chance in life. All of us owe him for the many opportunities he showed us,” said Mike Sangiacomo, Buck’s nephew and third-generation partner.
Buck was a man who wore his emotions on his shirtsleeve (generally a white T-shirt), often of great passion and love, be it for his family, dogs, or pickup truck. He loved his dogs; they accompanied him on the daily rounds in his pickup truck, sitting in the front cab where they too could survey the vineyards. But it was his wife of 34 years, Sue, that he adored most of all. He relished coming home at the end of a busy day and swapping stories over a glass of wine or a beer.
Buck often helped others, and in 2009, he and his wife Sue founded The Sangiacomo Scholarship Fund as a way to help Sonoma youth achieve their goals and higher education.
Buck is survived by his wife, Susanne, and sister-in-law Diane; nieces and nephews Michael Sangiacomo (Whitney), Mia Pucci (Michael), Steven Sangiacomo (Connie); and great nieces and nephews Joseph, Julia, Robert, Drew, and Samuel Sangiacomo; and Michaela and Dominic Pucci. He was preceded in death by his sister Loraine Sangiacomo, brothers Angelo Sangiacomo, and Bob Sangiacomo.
