Moritz was born in
Andermatt Switzerland the second of four siblings. His birth was not the only exciting event
that day, as a large snow avalanche threatened the town as well. When he was 2 years old, his father bought a
dairy business by Lake Constance, close to the Austrian border. Many of his uncles were in the dairy and
cheese making business. While serving in
the Swiss military service, Moritz’s father passed away and Moritz took over
the family dairy business.
During college vacation,
Moritz made his first visit to the US and worked on a Vermont dairy farm,
milking cows, tending the fields and a saw mill. After college and a short period of technical
work with the Central Co-Op of the Swiss Dairy Farmers in Bern, Moritz moved to
Peru with the Swiss Government (similar to the US Peace Corps).
Shortly after arriving in
Peru, he met his future wife Clorinda.
Within a year they were married and had a great time traveling to remote
places in Clorinda’s beautiful
country. Daughters, Claudia and Angela
were both born in Peru.
During the five years
Moritz spent in Peru, he helped with a national cheese project with the
Peruvian government, building and supporting almost 50 small and rustic cheese
factories in the Andean mountains. He
instructed on a variety of different cheeses and dairy products, while helping
them to bring these products to market.
In the end, it helped to improve their livelihoods.
In 1980, the family moved
to Vermont, where Moritz was a production manager for an Italian and Greek type
cheese factory. It was at this time that
Moritz had his first chance to play some tennis.
In 1990, he took a
position as plant manager in Turlock, CA.
After many ownership changes at this plant, he took a job in dairy
ingredient sales in the western United States.
In 1998, the company moved Moritz to Brazil for two years, where he
enjoyed the travels as a technical manager for Latin America. Clorinda used this time to finish her
dissertation in Spanish Literature. The owner of the home where they lived was
a member of the local country club. This
allowed Moritz to play tennis on their sand courts. Much better on the joints, than our hard
courts. In 2000, they came back to
Bennington, VT, where Clorinda had a professorship at Bennington College, but
two years later, they moved to Wisconsin, when Moritz took a buyer’s position
for specialty ingredients for the dairy industry.
In 2012, Moritz went into
semi-retirement and moved back to California so that Clorinda and he could be
closer to their daughters and grandsons.
In April of 2013 they moved here to Trilogy. Both enjoy this area, but
also like to explore other places/countries.
Moritz still works part-time, but one of his goal is to improve his tennis
skills.
