Few people who enter Sentara Obici Hospital realize how much they owe its existence to one man who was not named Obici.

Indeed, Amedeo Obici, the founder of Planters Peanuts, left the legacy of the hospital in honor of his wife, Louise. After she died in 1938, Obici established the Obici Charitable Trust, which financed the construction of Louise Obici Memorial Hospital. It also provided partial funding for the new Obici Hospital built on Godwin Boulevard in 2002. Sentara and Obici Hospital merged in 2006.

The Obicis are memorialized with portraits and memorabilia, as well as a pictorial history of the hospital, on the garden level of the building. However, situated not too far away are some classrooms now named after a man who carried the torch for the hospital for many years.

J. Samuel Glasscock was honored on Wednesday for his many years of service to the hospital. He was elected to the Louise Obici Memorial Hospital Board of Directors in 1966 and served until the 2006 merger, which he helped shepherd. He served as chairperson for 25 of those years.

Glasscock was described by colleagues on Wednesday as one of the key figures in the hospital’s relocation. He felt the hospital needed to remain near downtown and near main bus routes for its patients and visitors. He also pushed for the merger between Sentara and Obici, feeling that affiliation with the larger health system would be more beneficial than trying to run it independently.

Those who know Glasscock know that he is always gracious, unassuming and kind, but one gets the distinct impression, based on the words of those who were there, that he was a fierce advocate for the Suffolk community in the rooms where those negotiations took place.

Glasscock is indeed a “giant” of Suffolk, and the choice to rename the classrooms in honor of him was right on the mark. What an honor for a man who has given so much to Suffolk.