It's a time for reflection about his father and about the city where both father and son grew up.

Cali remembers when Cupertino's crossroads at De Anza and Stevens Creek boulevards faced a crossroads of a different kind regarding the city's future direction.

Shortly after Cali graduated from college in 1972 and went to work for his family feed mill at that intersection, Apple Computer was setting up shop nearby. Clearly change was on the way.

His family's business, R. Cali & Bro., hung on into the 1980s, and Cali has hung on as well, as the community transitioned from an agricultural economy to a high-tech one. Along the way, he has overseen his family's business holdings.

Cali has always been actively involved in the community, contributions for which the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce selected him as its STAR Citizen of the Year.

"He has always been willing to step in and help financially, especially with the library, which was substantial," Councilman Patrick Kwok said.

"He has been so involved in the community," said Donna Austin, who nominated him for the Chamber's award. Like Kwok, Austin also mentioned a little-known side of Cali--his fine singing voice, which he contributes to the choir at St. Joseph of Cupertino Church.

"I was taken by surprise; I didn't know that many people knew who I was," Cali said of the award in a recent interview at his office. The office sits just down De Anza Boulevard from his family's old operation.

Although Cali prefers to keep a low profile, his work in Cupertino has been extensive. Among the projects he has been involved with are the Cupertino Historical Society, Cupertino's museum (which he helped launch) and the Rotary and Lions clubs.

"My family has a history and presence here, and with that comes an obligation to give back to the community," Cali says.

Cali's family moved to Cupertino in 1919, a time when the community was best known for its orchards. His grandfather Rosario Cali and great-uncle Joseph Cali established a business trucking fruit in the valley and beyond. In the 1930s the brothers expanded the business into a grain mill and feed store.

"It was the classic feed and fuel farm store," Cali says. "It had feed, dog food, tacks and saddles." The operation also included what was then Cupertino's tallest structure, a grain tower at the Stevens Creek and De Anza boulevards.

Cali followed family tradition and formally joined the business after graduating from Santa Clara University. He also worked at the mill after school as a teenager. As an adult, he initially served as a truck dispatcher on the early morning shift and later managed the retail operations.

"We probably held on seven or eight years longer than we should have," Cali says. "When is the last time you ate a piece of canned fruit?" he asks with his trademark low-key humor. "The market for canned fruit wasn't there, and the time and place had come and gone for a noisy and dusty feed mill."

After the mill's closure and subsequent demolition in 1988, Cali stayed in the family business, concentrating on its real estate holdings. Part of his family also relocated to Santa Cruz, where they ran a pet store, which just announced its closing in February. He also became increasingly involved in Cupertino causes and, as a father of two daughters, became involved with local Catholic education. Cali was also in the first class at St. Joseph of Cupertino grammar school and later graduated from Bellarmine High School.

His long-standing commitment to the community was rewarded at the Chamber's STAR awards banquet at the Cypress Hotel on March 6, a site that fittingly was the previous home of the mill business and that has since honored his family history by taking the name Cali Mill Plaza.

Cali has mixed emotions about the changes.

"It's sad to the history go, but there is not a lot of room to grow except for in-fill," he said. "We need to make sure it's still a vital community."

As a part of that process, Cali is thoughtful about all the changes taking place in town. He sees the need for change, openly wondering what Cupertino have might be like if the original orchard farmers had placed a moratorium on growth in the community in the 1960s.

"As my grandfather said, we need to look toward the future," Cali said.

Cali is doing his part through his civic engagement.

"He is so humble," Austin says. "His family is really the last of the Mohicans."

Cali intends to honor that. "Hopefully, we can leave Cupertino better than we found it," he says.