Saying Goodbye to Our Co-op's First CFO (and Part-Time Astrologer)

Jerome McGeorge understood numbers. He understood stars. He understood people.

No one escaped Jerome’s charm.

Organic Valley’s first CFO, Jerome McGeorge, was a legend beyond the walls of Organic Valley’s offices, creating change and beauty both in the little village of La Farge, Wisconsin, where the co-op was born, and across the seas. He positively influenced businesses and organizations and many, many people. Our co-op may never have taken off without Jerome’s insights and ideals.

He was an expert in finance and used his business sense to help startups and organizations, including a local school, a domestic abuse program, and our co-op. He freely shared his wisdom with others, preferring to work with a barter system. Payment could be a load of wood or a table. It was up to the person receiving his advice to decide what they could give. It was never about fattening his bank account. It was about what was best for the community.

“He had an incredible attitude about what was ‘plenty,’” said George Siemon, one of Organic Valley’s founding farmers and former CEO.

Born on April 10, 1941, Jerome passed away on Aug. 20 at his home.

From Big Oil to Small-Town Wisconsin

In the 1970s, while working for “Big Oil” on Wall Street, Jerome had an epiphany that his values didn’t mesh with his corporate lifestyle. So he quit, leaving behind financial comfort and moving to Wisconsin’s Driftless area.

Numerous alternative people came to the region as part of the back-to-land movement. Jerome retained his business sense but ditched his shoes and three-piece suit, becoming a whimsical head-turner with a long, flowing beard and hair. It would become his home and with his help, it would also become home to Organic Valley.

He was the king of nicknames, George said. “That showed the amount of love he had.” Jerome was known as “Wizard” and “Big Jer.” A banker who befuddled him called him “Jeromeo” because he had a “Romeo” side that could win anyone over. A friend enduringly referred to him as “Walking Eagle” because of his ability to find a glimpse of hope and a path where others could not.

Through his vision, commitment, and belief in the power of cooperation, Jerome played an instrumental role in shaping Organic Valley, our co-op that has grown from a bold idea into a thriving organization dedicated to serving farmers, employees, customers, and communities.

Jerome’s Contributions to the Cooperative

In the ’80s, Jerome worked with founding members of what would be CROPP Cooperative (Organic Valley), serving as the co-op’s first CFO and helping build what would become the nation’s largest farmer-owned organic cooperative.

“We meant to be an answer to the farm crisis. We were going to save family farmers,” Jerome said in a decade-old interview.

Jerome once said Organic Valley was a willful source with a pioneering spirit that was good at adapting to adversity. He was a respected figure at a time when “organic” was an unfamiliar term. Though not all of the co-op’s founders were on board with advice he brought forth based on astrology and numerology, they would roll their eyes and entertain the ideas because they respected and believed in him.

George said Jerome was a brilliant man with an extraordinary aptitude for connecting with others, which was necessary as the founders juggled vendors, lack of finances, and all the things it takes to start a cooperative from the ground up. Jerome had an unmistakable laugh that he shared freely.

“He had a very winning personality and won everyone over,” George said. “He got to know people and they would open up. He could read them well and he had a magic touch with people.”

Pioneering Ideas and Plenty of Skepticism

The co-op’s founders had two enormous tasks, Jerome said in an interview recollecting the beginnings of the co-op. “No. 1, organic didn't mean anything as we were reminded all along by everyone and you're crazy if you think you are going to get a premium for organic food. That's not a value-added proposition at all. Secondarily, meaning even more scoffing, was that we are going to pay a stable dairy pay price. Both of those pioneering ideas of ours, we made happen despite enormous skepticism.”

He and George became students of co-ops, convincing themselves they would not be a corporation, Jerome said. “Can we be the best co-op we can possibly be? Because we sure know a lot of co-ops that did not work.”

They traveled the world, including to China, Cuba, and Colombia. They studied and met people who would later become partners. Jerome became George’s adviser and a goodwill ambassador for the co-op. A movement-oriented visionary and experienced businessperson, Jerome exuded profound kindness and could charm anyone.

“He must have had an influence because we survived and succeeded,” George said of the co-op, now in its 38th year of protecting family farms and providing nourishing, organic food.

Jerome once said he dreamed of a world where people had stronger connections with one another and the natural world.

“Can we get to more social harmony and ecological consciousness? I think if we don’t, we're in trouble,” he said in an interview with co-op friends.

It’s Official: A Farmer-Owned Cooperative Is Born

Beyond being a meticulous bookkeeper, Jerome had beautiful handwriting and was a skilled writer. He melded those talents with his gift for numbers to create eye-appealing annual reports, member letters, and astrological charts.

The co-op filed its papers on March 10, 1988, making it official. Jerome created an astrological chart crowded with symbols (and a few coffee stains) and recalled in an interview, “It was extraordinarily idealistic, full of promise, and grounded in the earth. Because the earth element was dominant, it was ideal for an organic cooperative.”

One of the cooperative’s founding farmers, Jim Wedeberg, said Jerome was committed to the co-op and a gifted problem-solver. He would look at things and dissect them in his mind and put them back together again. The skill was essential for the co-op, particularly one night in the early 1990s when financial pressures had exhausted the founders. They owed money to the state, vendors, and producers, and the board gathered for an impromptu meeting.

“We sat there and wondered if the last person out that night was going to shut the lights off, and that was going to be it,” Jim said. “Jerome laid out a plan for how we were going to put one foot in front of the other and make it work. We came out of there and said, ‘OK, the lights are going to stay on.’

“It was so close to the very end, and Jerome had the vision and the wisdom to form a plan that left us feeling like maybe there was a chance.”

And there was. With the help of Jerome’s wisdom, Organic Valley is now a cooperative owned by more than 1,500 farmers — its headquarters still tucked into the Driftless Region, where Jerome could often be seen walking around barefoot.

Jerome helped share the story of the co-op’s founding in this October 2018 video:

3 Things We Are All Responsible For

Jerome was fascinated by indigenous wisdom and always eager to learn, reading book after thought-provoking book. He was committed to organic agriculture, cooperative business models, and a food system that prioritized people and the earth. And he could tell you what was going on in the sky at any given time — always keeping a pulse on the movement of stars and planets.

Jerome served as the co-op’s board adviser until he was 75, always ready to listen, sift through every detail, and share his astrological insights.

His reflection:

"The greatest change in our human consciousness is that each of us is responsible for our own health. Ancient Tibetan wisdom identifies three sources of health: what we eat, what we drink, and how we behave. Each of us is responsible for all three."

The stars aligned when Jerome was born, and as we say goodbye, the stars continue to shine above all the people, organizations, and farms he touched.