Gerald Baldwin is an American businessman. He and two other entrepreneurs, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl, founded

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 ...

in Seattle, in 1971. He is a

Sonoma Valley Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyard ...

vintner A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to d ...

, and co-founder of J. Baldwin Wines.

Career

Jerry Baldwin learned the

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

trade from Alfred Peet, whose store Peet's Coffee And Tea, was the inspiration for Starbucks. Starbucks purchased roasted coffee beans from Peet's during its first year of operation. Baldwin has recalled Peet as being a "very generous" mentor. In 1984, when Peet's was offered for sale, Baldwin led a group of investors, including Bowker, to purchase the company. In 1987, he sold his interests in Starbucks. Baldwin was chairman of Peet's until 2001 when Peet's

went public Going public may refer to: * Initial public offering, financial action by a business * Whistleblowing, exposure of previously private information * ''Going Public'' (Newsboys album), 1994 * ''Going Public'' (Bruce Johnston album), 1977 {{Dis ...

, and he became a director of the company. Baldwin served as director and founding chairman of the Technical Standards Committee of the Specialty Coffee Association of America; president of Association Scientifique International du Cafe (ASIC); and chairman of the Coffee Quality Institute. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Specialty Coffee Association of America. He is a director of TechnoServe, an NGO working in Latin America and Africa. In 2000, he and his wife,

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

Jane Baldwin, established J. Baldwin Wines, a

zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kašte ...

and

petite sirah Durif is a variety of red wine grape primarily grown in Australia, California, France, and Israel. Since the end of the 20th century, wineries located in Washington's Yakima River Valley, Maryland, Arizona, Texas, West Virginia, Chile, Mexic ...

grower and producer located in Sonoma Valley, California. Jerry Baldwin's

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, ne ...

was estimated to be $2.4 billion in 2018.Jerry Baldwin Net Worth
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Jerry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Starbucks people Businesspeople in coffee Businesspeople from San Francisco University of San Francisco alumni American winemakers American food company founders American chairpersons of corporations Directors of Starbucks