Mario Peruzzi

Peruzzi was born September 8, 1875, in Treviso, Italy. His parents were Angelo and Elvira (Morlachi) Peruzzi. As a child he attended public schools in Treviso and the Venice Industrial School. Peruzzi began his working career in a bookstore in Rome at the age of twelve. After several months in the book store, he got employment at a large department store in Rome and worked there for six years.

Peruzzi, at the age of nineteen in 1894, emigrated to the United States with his father. They settled in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where he got work as a janitor. After about four months at this job, he obtained work for three years at a wholesale company that imported various groceries. In 1897 he moved to Scranton and got employment as manager for the confectionery department at the C.P. Wentz Company. At this time he got acquainted with twenty-year-old Amedeo Obici, another Italian-American immigrant. Obici sold snacks and roasted peanuts.

In 1905 Obici devised better ways of selling of peanuts as a food for people. Prior to this it was considered basically animal feed or food for the very poor--hence the term "peanut gallery". Obici added the name "Planters" to his peanut company, to elevate the perceived quality of the product. It suggested an aristocratic status for peanuts as a desirable food. In 1906 Obici and Peruzzi founded the Planters Peanut Company in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The firm incorporated in 1907 with Obici as president of the company and Peruzzi as the secretary-treasurer and sales manager.

The merchandising of peanuts became successful and by 1911 they entered the confectionery business. The firm became Planters Nut and Chocolate Company. In 1913 a new plant was built in Suffolk, Virginia where peanuts were grown. Obici and his wife eventually moved there permanently in 1924. Peruzzi remained in Wilkes-Barre as the general manager and secretary-treasurer of the firm. In time he became vice-president of the firm and later its president. The firm took on the name Planters Peanuts, appropriating the idea from the Virginia peanut planters.

1917 sketch

The Mr. Peanut mascot developed from a promotional contest launched by the firm in 1916 to come up with a trademark. A 14-year-old boy won the contest with his sketch of a peanut with a smiling visage. The grade-school student labeled his sketch, Mr. P. Nut Planter From Virginia. The sketch of smiling Mr. Peanut was an in-shell peanut that had arms and legs and carried a cane.

This winning sketch was given to a commercial artist to improve. To make the figure look more aristocratic, he added a silk top hat, monocle, white gloves, and a pair of black and white shoes to the original boy's sketch. This new 1917 sketch was featured in advertising and packaging. The black and white sketch has since been developed into the yellow logo familiar across the United States today.

Peruzzi married twice. His first wife was Mary McCarthy and they were married in 1897 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. They had two children: Mario and Rita. She died in 1910. He married his second wife, Elizabeth Obici, in 1920 at Crystal Lake, Pennsylvania. She was the sister to Obici (his business partner).

Peruzzi was a director of the Miners National Bank of Wilkes-Barre for twenty years prior to his resignation from the board in 1949. Peruzzi was also president of Planters Edible Oil Company and National Peanut Corporation during this time. He was also on the board of Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre for a few years. He was also associated with the Wilkes-Barre-Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Italo-American Citizens club and various local Rotary clubs.

Peruzzi became president of Planters Nut and Chocolate Company upon the death of Obici in 1947. At this time the company had 2,000 employees and sold $40,000,000 worth a year. The company grew to over 3,000 employees in the 1950s. Peruzzi continued to be its president until his death on December 10, 1955.