Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburger restaurants, died early yesterday morning of liver cancer at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 69.
Thomas had been going through kidney dialysis since early 2001. He underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in December 1996.
Thomas opened the first Wendy’s on East Broad Street in 1969, six years after coming to Columbus to take over four failing Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurants.
He named the restaurant after his 9-year-old daughter, Melinda Lou, who was nicknamed “Wendy” by her siblings.
There are now 6,000 Wendy’s restaurants worldwide. The fast-food restaurant bought coffee and baked-goods chain Tim Horton’s in 1996. Wendy’s, with the 2,000 Tim Horton’s stores, has combined sales of more than $8 billion.
Thomas, adopted as an infant, was greatly involved in issues involving adoption. He created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a non-profit organization that focuses on raising public awareness of adoption. The profits of his books, “Dave’s Way” and “Well Done!”, go to the foundation.
In 1990, he became the national spokesman for a White House initiative on adoption.
Thomas retired in 1982, but returned in 1989 claiming the company took the focus off the consumer. He also began appearing in commercials for Wendy’s that year.
The smiling, bespectacled Thomas, always wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and red tie, appeared in more than 800 of the humorous ads, sometimes featuring stars such as bluesman B.B. King and soap opera queen Susan Lucci.
“People could identify with him. He looks like America – jolly, happy and slightly overweight,” said Al Ries, marketing strategist at Ries & Ries in Roswell, Ga. “Serious food is white tablecloths. Fast food is fun food, and Dave Thomas portrayed that.”
Thomas told 2,500 Columbus Public School seniors in 1993, the same year he earned his high school equivalency certificate, that his biggest mistake was not finishing high school.
“We have 4,000 restaurants today. But if I had gotten my high school diploma, we might have 8,000,” he said.
Public viewings will be at Wendy’s Corporate Headquarters, 4288 W. Dublin-Granville Rd., today and tomorrow, 6-9 p.m., and tomorrow, noon- 3 p.m. The funeral is Friday at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, 3500 Mill Run Drive, at 10 a.m.
Thomas is survived by his wife, Lorraine; five children and 16 grandchildren.
– The Associated Press contributed to this story.
