Patriarch Of Well-Known Wyckoff Family And Head Of Abma's Farm Dies

WYCKOFF, NJ — James Abma, a member of the family that turned their Wyckoff farm into a fall destination for New Jersey children, died on Monday at 87.

According to his obituary, Abma died in the same house where he was born in October 1938.

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The obituary notes that Abma's parents immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands in the 1930s and raised James and his four brothers. "Jim was deeply committed to the farmland entrusted to his care," the obituary notes. "He was a visionary ... Perhaps nowhere was that more evident than in the transformation of the farm's 200-year-old Dutch barn into a beautiful farm market."

Lost His Son

Abma's son, Jim, had died at age 62 back in May. The younger Jim Abma was also seen as a visionary who helped build the farm into a destination for fruit and flower shopping and pumpkin picking. READ MORE: Third-Generation Wyckoff Farmer Who Transformed Land Into Family Destination Dies At 62

Services will be held Oct. 4 and 5, including a celebration of life on Oct. 5. Read Abma's obituary here.