AHPA Honors Founding Member

SILVER SPRING, M.D.The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is remembering one of its founding members, Barry Meltzer, who passed away on August 22, 2013. Meltzer co-owned San Francisco Natural Herb & Food Company, and he was a pioneer in the natural products industry for the past four decades.

"Barry always had a camera in his hand, chronicling in black and white those early days of the industrya time when hippies, Mormons, Appalachian fur traders/root gatherers, rowdy women from Boulder, Texas cowboys, organic farmers and New York traders would gather together to envision the future," said Drake Sadler, co-founder of AHPA member Traditional Medicinals. "He knew our work with plants was noble and I am grateful to have shared this sacred journey with him."

San Francisco Herb & Natural Food Company has been in business for more than 40 years, and its Nature's Herb Company botanical products is currently celebrating 94 years in the business.

"Barry was a very gentle man, and a gentleman," said Mark Blumenthal, founder and executive director of American Botanical Council (ABC). Blumenthal also co-founded AHPA. "He had a wonderful sense of humor, and made hundreds of friend throughout the herbal community, in the United States as well as internationally." 

Meltzer is survived by his wife Kristi and two children, Sky and Eli.