Puentes, Longtime CFC Supporter and Beacon for Salem, Dies at 76

(this article is adapted from the Salem Reporter)

George Puentes, a long-time Salem civic leader and co-founder of Don Pancho Tortillas, died Friday, Oct. 13, at his home in Idaho, after contending with cancer for 10 years. He was 76.

“The city of Salem has lost one of its beacons in George,” said Ricardo Baez, his brother-in-law, and President of Don Pancho. “He loved our community. He loved Salem.”

Puentes was deeply committed to advancing the lives of young people. He was instrumental in the development of Capital FC’s soccer complex in the 90’s - originally established as the “Concerned Businesses Youth Soccer Complex.”

In addition to his support for youth on the field, Puentes established the Scholarships for Oregon Latinos Fund for aspiring students wishing to attend college.

Puentes retired in 2014 from the tortilla manufacturing firm he established in Salem in 1979, Don Pancho Authentic Mexican Foods, Inc. Baez succeeded him as president

Puentes built Don Pancho into a well-known brand in the Northwest. But as he grew his company with what a friend described as “tireless work,” Puentes took time to volunteer for the nitty-gritty of civic life, starting with participation in a Salem neighborhood association.

He also served on local nonprofit boards and earned a larger footprint with service on the boards of Northwest Natural, Meyer Memorial Trust, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Puentes was born Sept. 25, 1947, and grew up in San Jose, California. He served three years in the U.S. Air Force and graduated from San Jose State University.

His father, Francisco, had started a tortilla manufacturing company in California and Puentes learned the business. He would say later he took away lessons about hard work, honesty and treating people well.

“I saw the way he treated people with so much respect – didn’t matter if it was the dishwasher in a restaurant to the owner or to a clerk in the back room,” Puentes said in a 2015 interview with KGW.

In 1979, he and his brothers scouted a location for a Northwest factory and planted the family flag in Salem. The tortilla business started small but grew rapidly and soon changed the name from Puentes Brothers Inc. to Don Pancho.

That was out of respect for his father, Puentes said in that 2015 interview. He explained Pancho was a nickname for Francisco and don was “a term of respect.”

The Salem operation eventually produced millions of tortillas a day, destined for grocery stores, schools and restaurants.

One customer was the Los Baez restaurants in Salem.

Baez was part of that family and that’s how he became acquainted with Puentes and his company. In 1993, he went to work for Puentes.

“His motto was to do right, to always take care of the customer,” Baez said.

He said Puentes was motivated to “carry on the family legacy in the manufacture of tortillas and making the best product available in the Northwest.”

Janet Taylor, former Salem mayor who founded and later sold Taylor Metal Products, said Puentes “wanted to build on his father’s success when he was here. He often would talk about what his father did.”

At the Salem factory, Puentes “would acknowledge every single one of our employees, whether janitor or a warehouse individual or someone who worked in the office,” Baez said.

At the same time, “He was a very demanding individual that demanded that we do our best,” Baez said.

“He’s just a tireless worker and expected that of the people who worked for him,” said Altman, who has known Puentes for 35 years.

In 2004, the family sold the company to another family-run Oregon business – Reser’s Fine Foods. The deal came about by chance, Baez said.

“We had an absolutely great product but we had limited distribution,” Baez said. “Reser’s had a really good distribution system and they didn’t really have a good tortilla at the time. It really made a lot of sense for us to partner up.”

Taylor said Puentes recognized the connection between his business and the city.

“He understood that he couldn’t be truly successful if the community wasn’t,” said Taylor. “The business was a way to say thank you not to just employees and family but the community in general.”

Education was important to Puentes and he wanted to be a role model for Latinos. In 1994, he joined others to create a scholarship fund at Chemeketa Community College, named for his late son. Since then, the program has paid $279,960 in scholarships to 161 students, who must be bilingual to qualify.

Over the years, Puentes collected a string of honors, including Oregon’s Minority Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 1991, Salem First Citizen in 2004, and induction into the national Tortilla Hall of Fame in 2011.

George Puentes receives the Oregon History Makers Medal in 2015 from Janet Taylor, chair of the Oregon Historical Society Board and former Salem mayor. (Claude Werner Laviano/Oregon Historical Society)

In 2015, the Oregon Historical Society awarded Puentes its Oregon History Maker Medal, given to those who “are positively shaping the history, culture, and landscape of Oregon.”

Taylor was president of the society’s board at the time and met Puentes for lunch to tell him the news.

“He was just so humble about it,” Taylor said.

Puentes later recalled his initial reaction: “Why me?”

“As the co-founder of one of the largest Latino-owned businesses in the Pacific Northwest, a visionary community leader, and a generous philanthropist, George Puentes was truly worthy of being honored by the Oregon Historical Society as a History Maker,” said Kerry Tymchuk, society executive director. “I was proud to call George a friend, and know that his legacy will continue to inspire Oregonians for generations to come.”

After retiring from the tortilla business, Puentes acquired a home in Mexico and traveled extensively with his wife, Stephanie. He golfed, enjoyed classical music and was an enthusiastic fan of the Oregon State University Beavers.

“He loved jokes,” Baez said. “A lot of them were bad jokes.”

The family is planning a celebration of life at a later date.

Besides his wife of 27 years, Puentes is survived by his mother Hortensia Puentes, brothers Frank, Robert and Phillip Puentes, sisters Patricia Puentes and Monica Baez. He was preceded in death by his father Frank Puentes, sister Ruth Moghadam, his first wife Carol and their son George Jr.