Image via Fresno State

The family of a renowned Valley farmer has made a gift to Tree Fresno worth $3,500.

The donation, provided by the family of Jack Woolf, was presented this month. It will fund the planting of several dozen large-canopy trees throughout the Coalinga-Huron Unified School District. The trees will increase shade on school campuses while also serving to commemorate Woolf’s life and legacy.

Woolf, a U.S. Army veteran who landed on Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy in World War II, built a career farming on the Valley’s Westside, according to a remembrance prepared by Fresno State.

He worked first with Giffen Inc. for more than 30 years, and later with his own Woolf Farming Company.

He died on July 28 at age 102.

The family’s donation will be combined with a CAL Fire grant, funded by the California High-Speed Rail Authority, under California Climate Investments, and will pay for several species of 15-gallon trees to be planted at school-related sites.