BIOGRAPHY

Anthony DiMeo III was born and raised in the small blueberry farming town of Hammonton, New Jersey in the heart of the beautiful NJ Pine Barrens nature preserve. Both sides of his successful Italian-American family came from Italy around the year 1910. His father’s side of the family are nationally recognized NJ blueberry farmers and top experts in the American blueberry farming industry. His father is a third-generation New Jersey blueberry farmer and co-owner of a large blueberry farm with combined DiMeo family acreage totaling about 986 acres of blueberries in New Jersey. His mother’s side of the family are all musicians. Her father (Anthony’s grandfather) was a musician, composer, pianist and graduate of the Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan, New York City, which is where he met Anthony’s grandmother Nancy Panettiere. She was living in Brooklyn at the time, with other members of the family living in the West Village. They were also in the produce business and sold fresh New Jersey grown produce at several stores in Manhattan. Nancy was born in Italy and came to the United States when she was just a teenager. Anthony’s maternal grandparents lived in the West Village of Manhattan and eventually got married in a beautiful church in New York City. They later decided to move down to Hammonton, NJ to raise their family in South Jersey.

Since Anthony was about 14 years-old, he started working with his father and grandfather on the DiMeo family blueberry farms in Hammonton, NJ. Anthony spent countless weekends on the little red Farmall tractor cultivating rows of newly planted DiMeo blueberry plants in the field and nursery. After the annual blueberry picking season was over, Anthony was responsible for post-harvest clean ups of hundreds of acres of DiMeo blueberry farm fields. The process involved getting seasonal farm workers to walk up and down every blueberry field row to pick-up any crates that were left in the row. Then mowing down all the summer weeds with a 6’ foot wide mower. He would go up and down each blueberry bush row. Then go up and down with a 6’ foot wide cultivator disc to chop up the grass into the soil. During the NJ blueberry farm off-season Anthony worked after school to make boxes and repair all the broken blueberry crates.

During his grade school years, Anthony DiMeo III worked after school and all summer long, every day, from early in the morning until the last load of blueberries was unloaded at the packing house, each pallet of fruit was put into the cooler with the fork-lift and the field trucks were prepared for the next morning. He didn’t get home until about 10p.m. every night. 7-days a week in the DiMeo blueberry farm fields. He worked directly with the crew leader in the blueberry field to register, sign-up and manage over 650 migrant farm workers (blueberry pickers) who hand-picked the DiMeo’s NJ blueberry crop during the months of June, July and August during blueberry picking season in NJ. Anthony was also responsible for driving in the truckloads freshly picked New Jersey blueberries in from the blueberry fields and into the blueberry packing house. When the blueberry pickers went home at the end of each blueberry season, he and his father worked together with a team of farm workers, to finish harvesting the “last round” of NJ blueberry picking with the blueberry picking machines.

During his senior year at Hammonton High School, Anthony accepted an internship at a nationally known company and excelled in sales and marketing at just 17 years old. After high school graduation, he decided to attend the University of Delaware so he would be close enough to drive back home on weekends to spend time with his grandparents and to continue working on his family’s blueberry farm and blueberry plants nursery in Hammonton, NJ.

Anthony DiMeo III was a well-known college student at the University of Delaware, College of Business & Economics (B&E) with a concentration in Business Administration. He was invited to join and inducted into the national leadership honor society Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK), a widely-renowned society that recognizes superior scholarship, leadership and exemplary character. He was also honored by the City of Newark, Delaware mayor as well as the University of Delaware Dean of Students for his “countless hours of volunteer community service.” During his senior year, Anthony was given his own private office on the 3rd floor of Purnell Hall, when he served as President of American Marketing Association (AMA, UD Chapter) and President of Student Economics Association (SEA). Anthony was also awarded within the distinguished Blue Hen Leaders program at the University of Delaware.

During his college years at the University of Delaware, College of Business and Economics, Anthony capitalized on his entrepreneurial spirit and founded RENAMITY Public Relations and Special Events, a small marketing group that hosted invite only after-work and social networking events for successful young professionals in the city.

The day after he graduated from the University of Delaware (UD) with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, he was offered a job as a stockbroker with Morgan Stanley. He quickly passed his Series 7, 66 and 63 exams. Living and training at The World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City. He worked for the major Wall Street firm for several years after graduation from UD. Anthony was a contributing writer for several media publications that published his financial planning advice and often mentioned his family’s NJ blueberry farm. He later decided to leave the financial services industry to focus on growing and preserving his family’s 110 year-old history in the American blueberry industry. Anthony now serves as a Managing Member of DiMeo Farms and has partnerships with his various family members.

Just as he left Morgan Stanley, his social media profile caught the eye of a young producer who invited him to film a reality dating television show called “A Dating Story” on TLC featuring a blind date on his family’s New Jersey blueberry farm which included a $10,000 fireworks show and a profile of his life as a young American farmer and successful young professional. After the reality TV show aired on TLC, a producer from ABC’s The Bachelor saw it. She loved his story and non-typical NJ blueberry farm date. She reached out to Anthony and the executive producers quickly flew him out to LA to audition for the nationally popular reality show The Bachelorette. Anthony was one of just 50 successful young bachelors who were chosen by ABC producers to be flown out to LA for the final Bachelorette audition.

Anthony was then invited by a NBC media producer to be featured on The Today Show for segment involving a panel discussion with young successful professionals who discussed the fading stigma of online dating. He enjoyed being in front of the camera so much that he hired a well-known photographer, created a comp card, went to meet with various casting agents in New York City and Philadelphia, and started acting with minor background and other roles on various feature films, television shows and commercials. Eventually, he met all of the requirements to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is still a SAG-AFTRA member today, but is currently inactive.

Anthony has also been a motivational alumni speaker at the University of Delaware, College of Business & Economics. He traveled to volunteer for several weeks, and teach at the School of English at Black Sea University in Ukraine where he was also a motivational speaker who captivated classrooms full of Ukrainian students with engaging discussions on stereotypes and other geopolitical topics. Since one of his college friends died from CF, he served on the Breath of Life Gala Committee, volunteering to help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to raise money. Anthony was recognized by the CEO of the American Red Cross for his “generous contributions and support” that helped reach significant levels of donations and for his “years of volunteer work” on the Philadelphia Red Ball Committee. For many years, during the holiday season, Anthony volunteered with the Red Cross and gave thousands of dollars worth of toys to children whose families had no place to live or were facing severe financial hardships.

Anthony was also nominated by the Consul General of Italy (Philadelphia) and served on the Italian and Italian-American Heritage Commission advisory council to protect, preserve, and grow his family’s Italian heritage. He was given a commendation for his “work, support and dedication” promoting Italian Heritage in the United States. Both Anthony and his grandfather, Anthony DiMeo, Sr. were featured and represented the DiMeo family in the book The Journey of Italians in America which celebrates the contributions Italians made in areas of agriculture and American culture. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon. The author contacted Anthony and invited him to be featured in the book along with his blueberry farming family in Hammonton, NJ Pine Barrens.

Anthony DiMeo III was chosen from a list of over 4,300 candidates by Leadership Philadelphia and recognized as one of the “Top Key Connectors” in the city who exemplify trusted leadership and concern for the common good. Anthony was given a token of appreciation from the Mayor of Philadelphia for being a successful young professional who “represents the future of our city.” He has received certificates of appreciation from Kiwanis International for his contributions and presentations before their club members, which serve the needy children of the world. Anthony also participated in “An Evening with the U.S. Senate” in which he attended a private dinner at the National Constitution Center with 25 U.S. senators to discuss various important issues affecting young American farmers.

Anthony now focuses most of his time on the DiMeo family blueberry farm in New Jersey which has a pick your own organic blueberry farm and hosts blueberry farm weddings at their beautiful South Jersey farm properties. He is a Managing Member at DiMeo Farms and runs their nationally known blueberry plants nursery on the farm. The DiMeo’s sell and ship the best organic heirloom blueberry bushes. DiMeo Farms now has over 109,000 followers on Facebook with countless of happy DiMeo blueberry farm customers from all across America who buy organic NJ blueberry plants farmer direct. www.DiMeoFarms.com

Anthony also supported the ‪‎Police Unity Tour which raised awareness of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty. He supported Kiwanis International with donation toward its children’s scholarship fund. Anthony donated to the National Night Out program to promote police and local community partnerships to improve relations between the public and NJ police officers. He also generously donated to Goodwill of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, a nonprofit community based organization that puts people with special needs to work.

During his free time, Anthony enjoys researching his Italian family history and staying in contact with his friends and relatives in Italy. His family also owns beautiful restaurants, wineries and other properties in Italy.

In the video below, Anthony and members of his NJ blueberry farming family, celebrated the 100th birthday of investor, entrepreneur and blueberry farmer Joseph “Joe” DiMeo with the entire DiMeo blueberry farm family singing, including some customers of DiMeo Farms in Hammonton, New Jersey.

You can also find below a small photo gallery with just a few pictures from Anthony’s life, family and friends, from growing up on his family’s blueberry farm in Hammonton, NJ to his living and working in Manhattan, New York City, to his after-work social and networking events in the city. Throughout his life, Anthony has maintained the perfect balance of farm and city life and yet despite many challenges, still carries forward the DiMeo family legacy of blueberry farming while encouraging home gardens to grow their own organic blueberries at home instead of relying on low quality produce from local supermarkets.