{"id":282793,"date":"2026-04-23T23:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282793\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T23:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:11:27","slug":"former-fresno-supervisor-farm-bureau-president-john-p-phil-larson-dies-at-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282793\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Fresno Supervisor, Farm Bureau President John P. &#8216;Phil&#8217; Larson Dies at 92"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>John P. \u201cPhil\u201d Larson, who served as a Fresno County supervisor and Fresno County Farm Bureau President after serving in the Marines,\u00a0 has died at the age of 92.<\/p>\n<p>In a remembrance, the farm bureau recognized Mr. Larson\u2019s contribution to Fresno County ag.<\/p>\n<p>Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen said Mr. Larson fought the water battle in California years before it came to a head.<\/p>\n<p><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/gvwire.com\/contact\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280\u00d790-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280x90-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"   width=\"1280\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust a remarkable man. A man of faith, a man of family, he definitely did an incredible amount for not just agriculture, but our local region here,\u201d Jacobsen said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Larson is survived by his wife Joyce, his son Tim, his daughter Lisa, and three grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p>Larson Stepped into Water Fight Years Before SGMA<\/p>\n<p>Born in 1933, Mr. Larson served as a Marine during the Korean War, according to a commemoration from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnostatenews.com\/2013\/10\/09\/ag-one-community-salute-honors-fresno-co-supervisor-phil-larson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fresno State<\/a>. After returning from the conflict, he went on to work for the Wilbur Ellis Company \u2014 an ag products distributor \u2014 for nearly four decades before taking on the world of politics.<\/p>\n<p>As supervisor, he served western Fresno County from 2002 until 2014, earning reelection in 2006 and 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Health problems spurred his decision to leave the role, endorsing current Supervisor Brian Pacheco to take the seat.<\/p>\n<p>Jacobsen said Mr. Larson led the fight for water before <a href=\"https:\/\/naturalresources.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/larsontestimony4.11.11.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">most people knew it would become an issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was the water guy. He was in the water fights before they became a common terminology for most around here because he represented the west side and was very much a big part of those discussions,\u201d Jacobsen said.<\/p>\n<p>SGMA \u2014 the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act \u2014 was passed by state lawakers in 2014 to address the rapid depletion of California\u2019s groundwater resources, which had become increasingly evident on the Valley\u2019s westside as the ground subsided.<\/p>\n<p>The law is designed to achieve a sustainable equilibrium between pumping and recharge in the state\u2019s aquifers by 2042.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Larson also was a key player in the development of Veteran\u2019s Boulevard that now connects residents west of Highway 99 with the rest of Fresno.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John P. \u201cPhil\u201d Larson, who served as a Fresno County supervisor and Fresno County Farm Bureau President after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-282793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}