Tuesday January 8 6:02 PM ET
Wendy's founder Dave Thomas dies
By Deborah Cohen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wendy's International Inc. founder Dave Thomas, the smiling, down-to-earth everyman who personified the No. 3 U.S. hamburger chain through more than 10 years of self-effacing television commercials, has died at age 69, the company said Tuesday.

Thomas died early Tuesday of liver cancer at his Florida home, the Dublin, Ohio-based company said. He had suffered from cancer for more than a decade, underwent heart bypass surgery in 1996 and had been on kidney dialysis treatment since last year.

Thomas retired as chairman of Wendy's in 1982. Though he no longer actively managed the company, he had appeared in commercials for Wendy's since 1989, when he became the official company spokesman. That began the string of well-known advertisements that featured him in humorous situations promoting the virtues of Wendy's hamburgers, french fries and other simple fare.

``Dave was our patriarch, a great, big lovable man,'' Wendy's Chairman and Chief Executive Jack Schuessler said in a statement. ``He had a passion for great-tasting hamburgers and devoted his life to serving customers great food and helping those less fortunate in his community.''

Thomas began his career in fast food in 1956 with a barbecue restaurant he opened with Phil Clauss, a former boss, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He moved into the fried chicken business after Clauss bought a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise from fast-food giant Colonel Harland Sanders. Thomas opened the first Wendy's restaurant in 1969, naming it after his daughter.

Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1932, Thomas was adopted when he was six weeks old. Late in life he became an advocate for adoption, one of several causes he promoted to improve the lives of children, and in 1992 he created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

``This fast-food icon was an everyday man's entrepreneur and that was part of his charisma,'' said Merrill Lynch restaurant analyst Peter Oakes. ``He was an ambassador for the brand, for the industry and for adoption, and that's what made him a great humanitarian.''

A HUMBLE START

Thomas got his first job at age 12 as a counterman at a Knoxville restaurant. At 15, he dropped out of school to work full-time, a decision he later said he regretted. Forty-five years later he received a high school equivalency diploma from Coconut Creek High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Thomas appeared in more than 800 Wendy's ads and holds the Guinness Book of Records achievement for the longest TV campaign by a company founder. Those commercials, where Thomas appeared wearing his signature white short-sleeved shirt and red tie, often featured celebrities, including blues great B.B. King, Olympic Gold Medalist Kristi Yamaguchi (news - web sites) and soap opera star Susan Lucci.

In 1979, Thomas' rags-to-riches story earned him the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

Thomas often said he felt lucky to have been born in the United States. ``Only in America would a guy like me, from humble beginnings and without a high school diploma, become successful,'' he once said.

Wendy's, which operates about 6,000 Wendy's restaurants in the United States, Canada and international markets, began franchising in the early 1970s and went public in 1976.

Thomas' death marks the second major loss for the company in recent years. In 1999, Chief Executive and President Gordon Teter died, leaving current CEO Schuessler at the helm.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

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I graduated from CCHS class of '99. He gave a presentation at my school one of the years I was there. I didn't get to go. I wish I could have met him. Let's all have a meal at Wendy's in honor of Dave. I had lunch their today.

the orginal wendys is located on e. broad st in downtown columbus, ohio. so the wendys people called my theatre earlier today and asked if they could borrow some tensa barriers for the viewing on friday.

its all good cause our theatre is in tight with wendys, so its understandable that we do this favor for them... but its kinda odd. i open in the morning, so i get to be the one to distrubute them. go me.

Dave was always respected around town. He was involved with lots of charity work. He made sure that Wendy's was always a major contributor to community events. There is a primary care facillity in his name at the local Children's Hospital. He also helped to establish a private school that I can see from my front yard.

There is one interesting thing in his obituary that I have not seen before. It is now possible to e-mail condolences to the funeral home, which will give them to the family.

The address is http://www.schoedinger.com

And, yes, there really is a Wendy, his daughter, now married to Paul Morris.

I remember the little pamplets they had that showed all of the 256 ways you could get a Wendy's hamburger. This is the chain that really pioneered the custom hamburger in fast food.

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Abso-fraggin-loutly! The people at Wendy's are so much more professional, the atmosphere is so much nicer, the bathrooms are cleaner, and the burgers are a heck of a lot tastier!

--Chris

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Monaghan has given big bucks to Christian fascist organizations like Operation Rescue (anti-abortion) and the American Family Association (pro-censorship). That is why I do not order Domino's.

While Monaghan was financing Christian fascists, Domino's drivers were getting killed because Domino's policy of "we deliver in 30 minutes or it's free" encouraged reckless driving. That policy ended after the drivers' families sued Domino's.

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