John Latendresse

Who was John Latendresse?

John Robert Latendresse is known for being the "father of American cultured freshwater pearls" - USGS. He left home at 13, and lying about his age, joined the U.S. Marines at 15yo serving 38 months in the south pacific during World War II. On his return he moved to Reno, Nevada where he worked as a casino cashier.

Latendresse founded the Tennessee Shell Company in 1954 to supply the shell fragments used to seed pearls to pearl farmers overseas, later founding the American Pearl Company in 1961 to import pearls from Japan. He began experimenting with culturing pearls in the USA resulting in him becoming the first successful North American freshwater pearl farmer and he has been voted one of the pearl industry's most important people of the century.

Latendresse established the first experimental U.S. freshwater cultured pearl farm in Tennessee in 1963 which unfortunately was unsuccessful however it became the foundation of the U.S. freshwater cultured pearl industry. After perfecting his techniques in the late 1970s, he went on to establish a further 4 farms.