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Native son Ig Vella passes on

Beloved cheesemaker was 83

Ignazio "Ig" Vella, a native son of Sonoma, award-winning cheese maker, former county supervisor, county fair manager, planning and Sonoma Valley advisory commission member, passed away peacefully at his home on Thursday, June 9 at 6:45 p.m., he was 83. Ig’s wife Sally was at his side.

IgVella was born in Sonoma in 1928, educated in Sonoma Valley, and spent two years at Sonoma Valley High School before transferring to San Rafael Military Academy where he was chosen valedictorian in the class of 1946. He earned his bachelors of science degree in history at the University of Santa Clara, graduating Magna cum Laude in 1950, and was the class salutatorian.

He then attended the U.S. Air Force Officer Candidate School, graduating 16th out of a class of 647, earning a commission as a 2nd Lt. in the USAF, and served in the Korean War. Following the war, he returned to Sonoma and worked for a time in the family cheese business with his father, Tom. He then worked as executive assistant to the president of the Sonoma Mission Creamery in San Francisco and was active in the California Cheese and Butter Association, serving numerous terms as its president and as its representative in Sacramento. And avid baseball fan, he coached a local Babe Ruth Baseball team for several years.

Ig was probably best known in recent years as the man responsible for some of the best Dry (Monterey) Jack anywhere. Vella Cheese, started by his father Tom, was a regular winner of many national awards during Ig's tenure.  He was also a respected community leader, stepping up to serve on the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission from its inception following his 12 years of service on the Sonoma Planning Commission.  

But before serving for nearly two decades on those two local planning bodies, he served as the manager of the Sonoma County Fair, a position he took on after three terms as Sonoma County First District Supervisor from 1964 to 1975.

It was his many years of community service that earned him the honor in 2006 of being the only living Sonoman to have a bridge named after him.  The Ig Vella Bridge, spanning Sonoma Creek at Riverside Drive and West Napa Street, will forever be a solid monument to one of Sonoma Valley's most solid and hard-working citizens.

As a younger man, serving as a supervisor and later as fair manager, Vella was known for the sharpness of his wit and a biting tongue.  Not one to suffer fools, he was often blunt, caustic and impatient, while also recognized as highly intelligent, a consummate student of history and a gifted speaker. Upon his departure from the county board of supervisors, Robert Lynch, the late publisher of the Index-Tribune said of Vella, 

"…The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors never had a more capable member…No county public servant devoted more time and effort to his job.  No supervisor did his homework better or was more knowledgeable about his district and all facets of county government….His strength and recognized leadership on the Board of Supervisors were great assets to Sonoma Valley and the First District …"

Vella left the board of supervisors in 1975 to become manager of the Sonoma County Fair, succeeding James Lyttle, another Sonoma Valley resident. The fair grew and prospered under his direction, and in his fifth year as manager he was named the "Best Manager on the California County Fair circuit." 

But his management style ruffled many feathers within the large fair board of directors. Publisher Lynch said, "…He (Vella) was his own man and didn't care who knew it."  Following a ticket fiasco involving a premature sell-out of tickets to a Willie Nelson fair concert, which attracted negative press, Vella found himself sideways with a narrow majority on the board who voted to fire him in 1981.

In spite of the controversy, Vella returned to Sonoma and his family cheese business as a respected public servant, often sought out for his insight and advice on local planning and government-related issues, and before long he was asked to serve the first of several terms on the city planning commission.

During dedication ceremonies for the Ig Vella Bridge, then Sonoma Mayor Doug McKesson observed that given the familiarity most people have with the honoree, the new structure should simple be called, “the Ig Bridge.”

First District Supervisor Valerie Brown, speaking at the same ceremony, credited Vella with being instrumental in her political career and said that the bridge naming, “honors the work that he’s done and the man that he is.

And even former city council member and onetime political nemesis of Vella’s, Bob Cannard, called the bridge naming “a great honor for a great Sonoman.”

Cannard further quipped that, “some people might object to living on Ig Vella Street, but I don’t think anyone would object to running over him on a bridge.”

When it came his time to speak, Ig credited Sally for prodding him into a political career. “She hasn’t always agreed with me,” Ig confessed, “but she originally backed me.”

Then, paraphrasing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s description of his political nemesis Clement Atlee, Ig, a Churchill fan, said of himself, “I shall remain a modest man with much to be modest about.”

 While Ig Vella was widely regarded as a wise and thoughtful man, on that final point most who knew him would disagree. He did not live a modest life and his achievements will honor him long into memory.

Details on the memorial service will be published here when they become available.

To see more on Vella's life, see the SONOMA Magazine article here.