BIOGRAPHY

Anthony Di Meo III was born and raised in the small blueberry farming town of Hammonton, New Jersey in the heart of the NJ Pine Barrens nature preserve. Both sides of his Italian-American family came from Italy around the year 1910. His father’s side of the family are all 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 one of the largest blueberry farms in the world. 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 New York City where he met Anthony’s grandmother, Nancy Panettiere who was living in New York with her family who was also in the produce business. Nancy was born and raised on the volcanic island of Stromboli, Italy which is still one of the most active volcanoes in the world. They both married in New York and then moved to Hammonton, NJ after deciding to raise their family in South Jersey instead of the city. Anthony has three brothers and one sister.

Since Anthony was only 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 A tractor cultivating rows of newly planted DiMeo blueberry plants in the nursery. After the blueberry picking season was over, Anthony was responsible for post-harvest clean-ups of hundreds of acres of DiMeo blueberry farm fields. This process involved first getting a big gang of farm workers to walk up and down every single blueberry field row to pick-up any trash and crates that were left in the row. Then mowing down all the high summer grass with a 6’ brush cutter. He would go up and down all the blueberry field rows. Then go up and down each blueberry bush row with another farm tractor implement called a 6’ off-set disk to chop up the grass and to cultivate the soil. During the NJ blueberry farm off-season Anthony also 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 and the trucks were prepared for the next morning. He didn’t get home until 10PM, and this ran 7-days a week in the DiMeo blueberry farm fields. He worked directly with the field crew leader to register, sign-up and help manage over 650 migrant farm workers (blueberry pickers) who hand-picked the DiMeo’s NJ blueberry crop for the June, July and August blueberry picking season in NJ. Anthony was also responsible for carefully driving the truckloads fresh New Jersey blueberries in from the blueberry fields and to the DiMeo’s NJ 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, day and night, to finish harvesting the last round of NJ blueberry picking with the DiMeo blueberry picking machines.

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

Anthony DiMeo III was a well-known, successful undergraduate student at the University of Delaware, College of Business & Economics with a concentration in Business Administration. He was invited to join and was 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 honored by the City of Newark Delaware mayor, as well as the University of Delaware Dean of Students for countless hours of volunteer community service. He was fortunate to be given his own private office on campus (third floor of Purnell Hall) when he served as President of American Marketing Association (UD Chapter of AMA) and President of Student Economics Association (SEA). Anthony was also awarded within the distinguished Blue Hen Leaders program.

During Anthony’s college years at the University of Delaware, he capitalized on his entrepreneurial spirit and founded RENAMITY Public Relations and Special Events, a high-end, small boutique marketing group that built luxury brands in the fashion, entertainment and nightlife industries throughout the Philadelphia and New York City regions. Anthony’s success in the industry often gave him an opportunity to work with and meet all types of celebrities at various fundraisers and charity events.

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 stockbroker with Morgan Stanley. He earned his Series 7, 66 and 63 exams. Living and initially based out of New York City, but still driving back home to work weekends on the farm, 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 109 year-old history in the American blueberry industry as a Managing Member of DiMeo Farms and to expand upon partnerships with his family members..

Right around that time, one of his social media profiles caught the eye of a young producer who invited him to shoot 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 private fireworks show and a profile of his life as a young farmer and businessman. After the reality show aired on TLC, a producer from ABC’s The Bachelor saw it and she loved his creative NJ blueberry farm date. She reached out to Anthony and the executive producers quickly flew him out to LA to personally audition for the nationally popular reality show The Bachelorette. Anthony was one of just 50 young bachelors who were selectively chosen by top producers to be flown out to LA for the final Bachelorette audition.

Anthony was then invited by another media producer to be featured on a NBC Today Show segment involving a panel discussion of young successful professionals who discussed online dating. He enjoyed being in front of the camera so much that he started part-time hobby acting with minor roles on feature films and television shows. Eventually, he was invited to join the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is still a SAG-AFTRA member today, but is inactive due to his NJ blueberry farm responsibilities.

Anthony has since been a motivational speaker at the University of Delaware, College of Business & Economics. During the blueberry off-season, he traveled to volunteer and speak at the School of English at Black Sea University in Ukraine. Since a college friend of his died from CF, he served on the Breath of Life Gala Committee, volunteering to help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to raise money for investment in vital CF research. 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 Philadlephia Red Ball Committee. Every year during the holiday season, Anthony volunteered with the Red Cross and gave thousands of dollars worth of toys to children in Philadelphia who’s families were facing 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. Both Anthony and his grandfather, Anthony DiMeo, Sr. were featured representing 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 with his blueberry farming family in Hammonton, NJ.

Anthony was also 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 as 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 all types of important issues including New Jersey farm issues.

Anthony now focuses most of his time on the DiMeo family blueberry farm which has a pick your own organic blueberry farm as well as hosts blueberry farm weddings and family photo shoots on their beautiful South Jersey farm properties. He is a Managing Member at DiMeo Farms which also has a beautiful blueberry plants nursery on the farm. The DiMeo’s still sell and ship the best organic NJ blueberry bushes. DiMeo Farms now has over 100,000 likes 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 National Night Out to promote police-community partnerships and 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.

Anthony still enjoys researching his Italian family history and stays in contact with his friends and relatives in Italy. His family owns beautiful restaurants and properties in Italy. One of them is located in Casal Velino, Italy called Locanda Le Tre Sorelle. One of his other cousins also owns a successful agritourism farm in Italy that hosts tourists from all across the world. It’s called Zio Cristoforo and features some of the best Italian food cooked by real local Italian chefs. Those are just two of many of Anthony’s cousins in Italy. In the video below, Anthony and members of his NJ blueberry farming family, celebrated the 100th birthday blueberry farmer Joseph DiMeo with the entire DiMeo blueberry farm family including DiMeo Farms in Hammonton, New Jersey.