Edward Hyatt Willits

Edward Hyatt Willits

Edward “Ned” Willits, who at one time led one of the larger

citrus operations in Riverside County, died at his home in

Corona del Mar on December 10. He was 88.

Ned was born in Los Angeles in 1920 and grew up in

Corona and in Corona del Mar. His father, Robert, was the

president of the Corona Foothill Lemon Company. Ned was

named for his maternal grandfather, Edward Hyatt, who was

elected Riverside County’s first full-time superintendent of

Public Instruction in 1906.

Ned attended Stanford University and the University of

Colorado, where he received his degree. He joined the Navy at

the outset of World War II, eventually commanding a PC boat

in the South Pacific.

After the war he returned to Corona to help his father

Robert run the Corona Foothill Lemon Company, a family

controlled business founded in 1911. Corona Foothill Lemon

Co. and its subsidiaries owned almost 8,000 acres in and

around Corona, including a substantial portion of the Temescal

Valley. Ned also operated Willits and Newcomb, developing

new varieties of citrus and avocados, and worked with UC

Riverside’s agricultural researchers in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

He served on the boards of Sunkist Growers in Los Angeles,

the California Fruit Growers Exchange and Orange Heights

Packinghouse.

Upon his retirement 22 years ago, Ned moved with his wife

B.J. to their Corona del Mar residence full time. He was an

avid sailor and a long-time member of the Balboa Yacht Club

and the Kaneohe Yacht Club. He was never happier than

bodysurfing at Big Corona or Kailua Beach, Oahu, where they

kept a second home.

Ned was preceded in death by his wife B.J., who died in

October of this year. He is survived by his sister, Nancy Willits

Sattler, of Corona del Mar; two daughters by his first wife,

Sumi: Lisa Willits Down, Of Bainbridge Island, WA, and Kate

Hyett of Coprona, CA; two step-daughters: Vivian Carlson,

of Pennsylvania and Renee Moulun, of Portland, Ore.; and a

step-son, Jay stokes, of San Francisco; four grandchildren; and

one great-grandson, and many loving nieces and nephews to

whom he was the family patriarch.

Services have not yet been arranged. Donations may be

made to the Braille Institute of Corona Heritage Park.