Clare Berryhill; Former Agriculture Director and State Legislator

Clare Berryhill, 70, former secretary of the California Department of Agriculture and a former state legislator. Born in Fresno County, Berryhill was a grape grower in Ceres, Calif., when then-Gov. George Deukmejian tapped him in 1983 as the first Cabinet-level head of food and agriculture. During his tenure, the state was involved in combating Africanized killer bees, Japanese beetles, apple maggots, gypsy moths, Mexican fruit flies, poisoned cheeses and tainted watermelons. Berryhill served in the state Assembly in 1969 and in the state Senate in the early 1970s. He failed in a congressional bid in 1989. On Monday in Ceres, Calif., of cancer.