Robert "Bob" Von Thun Sr.

Robert "Bob" Von Thun Sr. was a third generation New Jersey farmer whose family land on Ridge Road in South Brunswick grew into Von Thun's, one of central New Jersey's best known pick your own farms and fall destinations. He died in October 2026 at the age of 96.

The farm's story began in 1913, when his grandfather Henry Von Thun bought 90 acres in South Brunswick and grew potatoes and grain. Henry's son, Henry M., carried on the work, and Bob Von Thun Sr. farmed the land in turn, including alongside his grandfather. Over the years he helped modernise the operation, trading work horses for tractors, and for many years the farm continued to produce potatoes and grain.

In 1986 his son, Bob Jr., formed a partnership with him, and the two farmed side by side until Bob Sr. retired in 2004. Together they added a farm market and pick your own fields, shifting the farm's focus toward fruits and vegetables. Greenhouses followed in 1989, then berry crops, and from 1995 the family built up hayrides, a corn maze and fall festival weekends. Today the family runs two farms, in South Brunswick and in Washington Township in Warren County, selling Jersey Fresh produce through its markets and at farmers markets around the state.

His five grandchildren and six great grandchildren called him Pop Pop. Visitors and former employees remembered a man who loved walking the farm and talking about its history, especially the potatoes. Friends of the family left messages of sympathy on the farm's Facebook page, and one wrote that they were grateful he had a vision for a farm that served the whole South Brunswick community.

The farm on Ridge Road, which marked more than a century in the family's hands, is now worked by the fifth generation of Von Thuns.

Von Thun Farms announced his death on 30 October 2026, saying he left a legacy rooted in family, farming and hard work. No cause of death was disclosed, and the family invited visitors to stop by the farm's Heritage Farm that weekend to remember him.