Jolyne Dalzell, great-niece of Planters founder, dies in New Jersey

Jolyne Dalzell, the great-niece of Amedeo Obici, the man who founded Planters more than a century ago, died Feb. 12, after a lengthy illness, her family said.

Born and raised in Scranton, Dalzell lived in Haddonfield, N.J., for more than 50 years, where she was an active member of the community.

Dalzell, also owned the family home in Mountain Top, where she visited often.

According to the Times Leader archives, Obici, an Italian immigrant, founded Planters Nut and Chocolate Co. with his future brother-in-law Mario Peruzzi in Wilkes-Barre in 1906.

The pair paid $25 rent for two floors of a downtown factory, and the company took over a four story building a year later. Within four years, Planters was turning a profit, and soon expanded, keeping its corporate offices in Wilkes-Barre, and opening a processing plant in Suffolk, Virginia,

Obici died in 1947.

In 2020, Dalzell said Planters corporate symbol, the iconic Mr. Peanut, was always a part of her family.

“He was an icon,” she said. “If you knew Planters, you knew Mr. Peanut.”

In 2007, Dalzell attended the dedication of the Planters Peanuts historical marker where the Planters headquarters was located at 632 South Main St., from 1925 to 1961.

The marker states:

“Amedeo Obici, 1877-1947, founded Planters Peanut Company in 1906 with fellow Italian immigrant Mario Peruzzi. Arriving in America at 12, speaking no English, Obici worked at a local fruit store before opening his own peanut cart. An entrepreneur, he invented new peanut production methods. Planters grew into one of the most widely distributed peanut brands; its Mr. Peanut trademark is universally recognized. Corporate headquarters was located here, 1925-1961.”

Dalzell said her uncle helped more people than anyone will ever know, and she advocated that Planters Peanuts founder received proper recognition.

“I think it’s very important because that’s where Planters started, in Wilkes-Barre,” Dalzell said in an interview with the Times Leader. “This is such a good thing for the Obici family and for the Planters legacy.”

At the marker dedication ceremony, Dalzell said that she and all of Obici’s surviving family members were extremely pleased to hear of the approval of the Pennsylvania Historical Landmark designation at the site of the former corporate headquarters.

Dalzell told the Times Leader the story of how her great-uncle immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1889 at the age of 11. She said he was unable to speak English, and when he sailed from France, his destination was written on a label tied through a buttonhole on his suit. When he arrived in Brooklyn, N.Y., he then boarded a train to Scranton, but was misdirected and ended up in Wilkes-Barre.

He was taken to a fruit store owned by Enrico Musante and Enrico’s daughter, Louise, who would later become Amedeo’s wife. The Musantes worked to contact Obici’s uncle in Scranton and he stayed with his uncle for awhile, returning to Wilkes-Barre where he attended evening classes to learn English.

And the rest, as they say, is history — history worthy of a historical landmark and deserved notoriety for Obici, Planters Peanuts and Mr. Peanut.

Dalzell had a scrapbook that contained a book with a photo and brief story about Anthony Gentile — the man who first designed Mr. Peanut.

Gentile was 14 at the time when he won a contest in 1916 that sought a symbol to represent the company — then known as the Planters Nut and Chocolate Company. Gentile provided some rudimentary sketches and won the contest.

A Wilkes-Barre commercial artist added the top hat, monocle and cane to complete the caricature.

Dalzell said she was told that Mr. Peanut’s final form was the work of a Wilkes-Barre graphic artist by the name of George LaBar. In the 1940s, LaBar added the top hat, monocle, cane, white gloves and fancy black shoes to the original design.

Planters was founded in 1906 and incorporated in 1908. Four factories were operating by 1930. In 1913, a new processing plant was built in Suffolk, Va., where Obici lived most of the time. His wife, Louise, died in 1938, and Amedeo died in 1947. Dalzell said as part of his will, a hospital was to be built in Suffolk in his wife’s memory.

The company is now owned by Kraft Foods.