Amedeo Obici (July 15 1877 – May 22 1947) was an Italian-American businessman who founded the
Planters Peanut CompanyPlanters is an American snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them....
.
Childhood, emigrating to the United States
Amedeo Obici was born in
OderzoOderzo is a town in the province of Treviso, Veneto, Italy.It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about 66 km to the northeast of Venice...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
to Pietro Ludovico Obici and Luigia Carolina Sartori. His father died when Amedeo was seven years old, leaving behind his widow, young Amedeo, another son, and a daughter.
In 1889, his mother's brother, Vittorio Sartori, invited him to come to the United States. The uncle, his wife and two children had earlier emigrated and lived in
Scranton, PennsylvaniaScranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to figures released by the United States Census Bureau in 2000,...
.
Amedeo was unable to speak English. When he sailed across the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
from
Le HavreLe Havre is a city in north-western France situated on the right bank of the mouth of the Seine River as it flows into the Bay of the Seine in the English Channel. It is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region. The inhabitants of the city are called Havrais or...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in March 1889, his destination was written on a label tied through a buttonhole on his coat. Upon arrival in Brooklyn, New York, he rode a train to Scranton. En route to Scranton, he was misdirected, and got off in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania. The people in the train station took him to the fruit store owned by Enrico Musante and Enrico's daughter, Louise (whom he would later marry in 1916), as they too were Italian and could translate and assist.
While the Musantes worked to contact Amedeo's uncle, Vittorio Sartori, in Scranton, Amedeo stayed with the Musante's in Wilkes-Barre. Amedeo then went to stay with his Uncle in Scranton, but later returned to Wilkes-Barre, where he attended classes in the evening to learn English, and worked in the Musante fruit store.
Roasted peanuts as a snack food
When Amedeo returned to Wilkes-Barre, he worked at the Musante's fruit store, where they had a peanut roaster and a fan that blew the fragrance of the roasting peanuts out to the street to lure customers to buy fruit and peanuts. The time Amedeo spend with the Musante's inspired him to get his own peanut cart. Because roaster ovens were expensive, Amadeo made a rudimentary roaster from parts obtained at a local scrap yard.
To promote his peanut sales, Amedeo devised a promotion. He put one letter of his last name in each bag of peanuts, O, B, I, or C. He inserted only one letter "O" for every fifty bags, and the customers who got the bags with the letter "O" won a gold watch. The watch was an Ingersoll gold-colored watch, which he purchased for a dollar.
Amedeo saved his money, and in 1895, brought the rest of his family from Italy to the United States. With the remaining savings he also was able to open his own fruit stand and peanut roaster.
Joining forces with Mario Peruzzi
Obici operated an eating-establishment which served oyster stew and roasted peanuts in a building in downtown Wilkes-Barre. There, in 1897, he teamed up with Mario Peruzzi, another Italian-American immigrant who was working for a wholesale grocer. Some time after Peruzzi's first wife died in 1910 (leaving two children), he married Obici's sister, "Lizzie".
Planters Peanuts
Obici and Peruzzi founded
Planters Peanut CompanyPlanters is an American snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them....
(unincorporated) in 1906 and incorporated it as Planters Nut and Chocolate Company in 1908. Planters owned four factories by 1930. Obici invented a new method of skinning and
blanchBlanch may refer to*Blanching, a form of cooking*Blanching , a method used to whiten metal*Blanch , a physiologic phenomenon whereby the skin appears whitish because a transient ischemia is introduced...
ing peanuts so the roasted goobers came out clean.
In 1913, they built a new processing plant in the heart of peanut farming territory in
Suffolk, VirginiaSuffolk is an independent city located in the South Hampton Roads area of eastern Virginia. By area, it is the largest of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads, and the largest independent city in land-area in the entire Commonwealth. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 63,677...
. Part of Obici's genius was in marketing and finding new products to add to Planter's stock.
Bay Point Farm, Obici Hospital
In 1924, Amedeo and Louise Obici moved to Virginia from Scranton and purchased the
253 acre (1 km²) Bay Point Farm located in the co on a bluff overlooking the
Nansemond RiverThe Nansemond River is a tributary of the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia. Bridges over it include the Nansemond River Bridge and Kings Highway Bridge , both once toll bridges. It passes near downtown Suffolk, forming the old north city limits.One of the three high schools in Suffolk, VA...
.
Louise and Amedeo Obici were unable to have children of their own, but they were active in holding frequent events for children of the community at their Bay Point Farm, and Louise's niece, also Louise Musante, lived with the Obicis from 1927 to 1930. Dairy farming was an
avocationAn avocation is an activity that a person does as a hobby outside their main occupation. There are many examples of people whose profession was the way they made a living, but whose activities outside their workplace were their true passion in life....
for Amedeo. He had a prized herd of
GuernseyThe Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.As well as the island of Guernsey itself, it also includes Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, Burhou, Lihou, Sark and other islets. Although the defence of all these islands is the...
cows, and distributed Bay Point Dairy Farm milk in Suffolk.
Louise Obici died in 1938. Amedeo wanted to create a lasting memorial for her and by 1941 had settled on a hospital. In 1942, he formed a corporation, which was funded by a large endowment presented after his death. Amedeo continued to live at Bay Point Farm until he died in 1947, aged 69.
Although area has been reduced through sale, Bay Point Farm still includes the Obici's home overlooking the
Nansemond RiverThe Nansemond River is a tributary of the James River in the U.S. state of Virginia. Bridges over it include the Nansemond River Bridge and Kings Highway Bridge , both once toll bridges. It passes near downtown Suffolk, forming the old north city limits.One of the three high schools in Suffolk, VA...
and some of the outbuildings, and currently belongs to the City of Suffolk. Bay Point Farm is listed on the
Virginia Landmarks RegisterThe Virginia Landmarks Register is a list of historic properties in the state of Virginia. The state's official list of important historic sites, it was created in 1966. The Register serves the same purpose as the National Register of Historic Places...
and on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Legacy
The generosity of Louise and Amedeo Obici to their adopted community and his workers left an indelible imprint in Suffolk and the surrounding community.
Among Amedeo Obici's legacy in the Suffolk and surrounding community was the original Louise Obici Memorial Hospital on U.S. Route 460. The hospital was established by his brother-in-law Mario Peruzzi after Obici's death, using the funds Obici had left him for that purpose. The community landmark, dedicated to Amedeo's wife Louise, opened in 1951. Through his estate, Obici also planned and paid for another hospital in his original hometown of
OderzoOderzo is a town in the province of Treviso, Veneto, Italy.It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about 66 km to the northeast of Venice...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
In 2006, a newer facility replaced the 1951-era Louise Obici Memorial Hospital at a larger site on State Route 10. Obici Hospital is now affiliated with Sentara Healthcare which operates many health care facilities in southeastern Virginia.
Although Planters and the peanut industry are not the major defining activity of Suffolk as they once were, the
Mr. PeanutMr. Peanut is the advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. He consists of a drawing of an anthropomorphic peanut in its shell dressed in the formal clothing of an old-fashioned gentleman: a top hat, monocle, white gloves, spats, and a...
character has become quite famous. A statue of Mr. Peanut is prominently displayed in downtown Suffolk. Another was a gift to Suffolk's sister city, Oderzo, Italy.
The company, now known as Planters, is owned by
Kraft FoodsKraft Foods, Inc. is the largest food and beverage company headquartered in the United States and the second largest in the world ....
. It is the Suffolk area's 11th largest employer.