Neal Palmer “Pal” Brooks, president of J.R. Brooks and Son, Inc., a $60 million business that is the nation’s leading producer of tropical fruit, went into the family business in 1961 and bought the business from his father in 1967. Peers described the Miami native as someone who runs his tropical fruit business with “the mind of a true businessman, but the heart of a grower.” Brooks was the first to use the hydro-cooler on avocados, an innovation that radically changed the avocado business by allowing growers and retailers to sell a better quality product with a longer shelf life. Within the mango industry, he was the first to use a hot water treatment for anthracnose.