GRB Chairman Phil Saunders is not only an entrepreneur and philanthropist, but is also an avid outdoorsman who hikes, hunts and fishes on 3,000 acres he has come to own in the sleepy, picturesque Livingston County township of Ossian.

Part of the land that Saunders now owns was once the farm of Democrat & Chronicle outdoor columnist Floyd King.  For this article, the paper revisited the area and talked to Saunders about his stewardship. 

Saunders, who turns 74 next week, has put a large thumbprint on the business world — Truckstops of America, Griffith Energy, Sugar Creek Stores, Genesee Regional Bank and Bristol Harbour Resort are among his many successful ventures.  

But Sugar Creek Farms is where he has put his thumbprint on the natural world. Where he lives, works and plays. In jeans and boots, not shirt and tie, connected to the land.