BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – If you’ve lived in the area more than a week, you have almost certainly seen them: La Rosa fruit bars, the pride of East Bakersfield. The company is celebrating its 45th year, but it’s also mourning its namesake, co-founder Rosa Garcia Diaz, who died this month.

“La Rosa” Diaz passed away Aug. 2.

Norma Diaz, daughter of Jesus Ramos Diaz and Rosa Maria Garcia del Diaz, his wife of 68 years, assures us the company will continue to thrive.

The business climate has changed, she said, but Bakersfield still has an appetite for the fruit and fruit-cream bars the Diazes started making full time 45 years ago.

Rosa, born in Mexico City in 1937, lived her American dream to the fullest. She was 87.

“My mom was always a go-getter,” Norma Diaz said. “She did a lot of br

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