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J. Gardner, Tuckerton farms owner

John J. Gardner, 75, of Tabernacle, owner of Tuckerton Turf Farms since he opened it in 1977, died Sunday, Aug. 23, at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly after a fall.

John J. Gardner, 75, of Tabernacle, owner of Tuckerton Turf Farms since he opened it in 1977, died Sunday, Aug. 23, at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly after a fall.

The business has grown Kentucky bluegrass and turf-type tall fescue near the Pinelands, its website states, and sold the grass to Rider, Rowan, and St. Joseph's Universities, and Cherokee and Gloucester City High Schools.

The farms trace their origins to the late 1800s, when the first John Gardner, at one time an Atlantic City mayor, began growing crops there.

"By the early 1900s," John J. Gardner's son John J. Jr. said, the original farms were producing "cranberries and other crops," such as soybeans and field corn.

When housing development came to Marlton and Medford in the 1970s, Mr. Gardner saw a market and moved his family business into turf production, his son said, though the farms still produce crops as well.

Born in Mount Holly, Mr. Gardner graduated in 1957 from Rancocas Valley Regional High School, where he was a member of the local chapter of Future Farmers of America.

After high school, his son said, Mr. Gardner served in the Navy. "He worked on the flight deck of the USS Antietam," an Essex-class aircraft carrier, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico.

When he returned to civilian life, Mr. Gardner went straight back to field work, his son said. "He was always farms."

He was a Mason and a member of the Indian Mills Fire Company.

Besides his son, Mr. Gardner is survived by sons Timothy and Brian; a sister; two brothers; and nine grandchildren. His wife, Ruth Ann, died in 2006.

Viewings were set from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, and 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, both at the Bradley & Stow Funeral Home, 127 Medford-Mount Holly Rd., Medford, before a 10 a.m. funeral there, with interment in Columbus Cemetery.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.bradleystow.com.