Fresno businessmen Shehadey, Tatham Sr. to be remembered in funerals on Monday

Two prominent longtime Fresno entrepreneurs will be remembered in separate funeral services on Monday after each passed away earlier this month.

John Shehadey, whose family owns Producers Dairy and who was a notable businessman and developer in his own right, died Jan. 4, 2023, at the age of 83.

Bill Tatham Sr., a longtime developer and onetime owner of professional basketball and football franchises, died Jan. 17. He was 89 years old.

John Shehadey

Shehadey was born in San Francisco in March 1939, the first son of Larry and Elayne Shehadey. The family moved to Fresno when he was 10 years old and bought into a small dairy that eventually evolved into Producers Dairy. John Shehadey worked at the dairy as a youngster in return for ice cream cones, according to the family.

After Shehadey graduated from Fresno High School, he attended Fresno State for a year before transferring to graduate from the University of Southern California. He went on to earn his master of business administration degree at Fresno State and received his law degree from the San Joaquin College of Law in Fresno.

Shehadey eventually struck out on his own to operate Shop N Go stores and later purchasing the Red Triangle Oil Company. He, along with sons Jim and Tom Shehadey, became a West Coast distributor for Valero Energy Corp. Mr. Shehadey and his family also took on a variety of projects including shopping centers and a mixed-use development that will be the site of a southwest Fresno campus for Fresno City College.

Producers Dairy’s original Bar 20 Ranch built in the 1950s was replaced by Shehadey and his son Steve Shehadey with a large state-of-the-art facility that was recognized with a national sustainability award for its system to remove methane gas from animal waste and convert it into renewable energy.

Shehadey was among the original board members of Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Fresno Convention and Visitors Bureau and served as a leader of the Fresno YMCA when the organization was confronted with the threat of bankruptcy.

He enjoyed running, hiking, boating, skiing and scuba diving. He made a skydiving jump on his 80th birthday.

Shehadey is survived by his wife, Mary Shehadey; sons Steve, Jim and Tom Shehadey and daughter Nancy Fisher and their families; brother Richard Shehadey; stepchildren Kelly Kehlet and Brad Cordil and their families; and his former wife, Judy Shehadey.

A viewing will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at Whitehurst Sullivan Burns & Blair Funeral Home, and a funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 30 at New Covenant Church.

William Tatham Sr.

Tatham was born in December 1934 in McFarland to parents Oca and Ruby Tatham, who migrated during the Dust Bowl from Oklahoma to California before the family settled in Clovis in the 1940s.

While growing up in Clovis, Tatham was active in church activities, 4-H, music and sports at Clovis High. After high school, he received a football scholarship to San Jose State, where he was named an All-American player in 1951.

Tatham met his wife, Earline, in 1953, and the pair were married in 1954. Their first child, son Bill Tatham Jr., was born later that year. The family moved to the Bay Area, where Tatham worked as a staff accountant for Nabisco and the Continental Can Company.

The family returned to the Fresno area in 1960, launching a convalescent hospital business from their home in Easton. As the business grew, the family moved to Fresno in 1967. Tatham eventually became the largest private operator of nursing homes in California, according to the family.

In addition to eventually acquiring an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association, Tatham also became a team owner in two different leagues: first with the Portland Thunder of the short-lived World Football League in the 1970s, and then buying the USFL’s Tulsa Outlaws in the mid-1980s. The team played its second and final season as the Arizona Outlaws in 1985 before the league folded.

Tatham was the developer for the Copper River Ranch and Country Club, now a major component of northeast Fresno, and also ran a large vineyard and winery operation.

Tatham was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Earline; his sister Doris and brother Gerald. He is survived by his wife Norma Tatham; brother Richard and sisters Brenda and Renee; sons Bill Jr. and Mike and their families and daughter Renee and her family; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A viewing will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at Whitehurst Sullivan Burns & Blair Funeral Home. A celebration of legacy will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 30, at the CrossCity Christian Church in Fresno.