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Dates! Sphinx Date Ranch’s roots run deep in Scottsdale By Alison Bailin Batz
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early 100 years ago, Roy Franklin discovered a tree sprouting in a Phoenix y a rd a n d k n e w i t w a s something special. The tree was producing black sphinx dates, which are smaller and sweeter than Medjool dates with a bit thinner skin. Still only known to grow in Arizona, these dates helped plant the seed for one of Scottsdale’s most beloved businesses: Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry. “If you would have told me that dates—and even Scottsdale—would be in the cards for me even 10 years ago, I may not have believed you,” says Sharyn Seitz, who owns Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry with her daughter, Rebecca Seitz. Sharyn was born in New Jersey and spent much of her early years moving around everywhere from Montreal to St. Louis. In college, she studied economics, which led to a successful career in the finance and government fields, including work for the state of Illinois in the governor ’s budget office, owning her own business and working for Amtrak in Washington, D.C. Her first brush with Scottsdale was when she and her daughters moved there in 1977, but had to depart soon for Chicago (and eventually Indianapolis), where her thenhusband had been hired for a job, but made her way back a second time in 1982. During her second time around, while raising her family, Sharyn made a name for herself, including holding positions with the Arizona Legislature, city of Phoenix and private companies in the Valley. “During my first stint in the area, I was a proud member of the second-ever graduating class of Scottsdale Leadership back in 1994, and eventually served as its president. I was also appointed by Mayor Drinkwater to work on the Mayor ’s Budget Review Committee in 1994, and the Scottsdale Citizens Bond Oversight Committee from 1989
The mother-daughter team of Sharyn Seitz, right, and Rebecca Seitz at Scottsdale’s Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry. (Photo courtesy Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry)
JANUARY 2021 / SCOTTSDALE AIRPARK NEWS /
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