Jack Ramos
Year Inducted: 2005
Jack Ramos Ranch | Hawai'i
Jack started out with some land that he inherited from his dad whom he never met. His father’s life ended a month before his son was born, when he was crushed by a falling tree while driving home. Fortunately for Jack himself, bad luck was not to be his fate, and he ended up a successful rancher and businessman. Jack started his ranch business in 1937 after graduating from Hilo High School.
He supplied local markets with beef, and later shipped beef to Honolulu markets during World War II. Over the years Jack gradually bought or leased lands on various parts of the Big Island, increasing the size of his cow herd. Having parcels of land that were scattered may have been one of the reasons for his success, as it was beneficial during drought to be able to move cattle from one area to another. Jack was ever ready to buy cattle from anyone. He dealt squarely with many other island ranchers. They knew that the check was always good and that his handshake was sufficient to close the deal. He was happy to see someone do well, as he was. Jack’s ranch had about 2,000 breeding cows on average. It also pastured about 1,000 dairy cattle in Kohala. The ranch created both the Ahualoa and Kamuela Dairies, with the Kamuela Dairy in Paauilo Mauka still in operation.
The Ramos Ranch brand is 77, which some may see as a symbol of Jack’s luck as a rancher. Jack himself might attribute it more to the great foremen who worked his ranch over the years, along with their families and friends, who got the job done. Their names have also passed into history . . Stanley Moniz,, Johnny Correia (Jack’s brother) and Johnny Medeiros. His son, Woody, who now manages the family ranch, knows it wasn’t luck at all, saying: “He always thought positive. Nothing was considered impossible.”