Dave Thomas: Encyclopedia - Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas

Rex David "Dave" Thomas (July 2, 1932 – January 8, 2002) was an American businessman and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and CEO of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, a fast food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers. He is also known for personally appearing in over 800 commercial advertisements for the chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other person in television history. He had such presence in these ads that many believed he was a professional actor.

Thomas was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He never knew or met either of his birth parents. He was adopted by a Lebanese (this is disputed) family in Michigan as an infant; he would become a well-known advocate for adoption, founding the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in 1992. His adoptive mother's name was Minnie Sinclair. She called herself his adoptive grandmother because she was an elderly woman by this time.

He dropped out of high school at age 15 and moved in with the family who owned the Hobby House Restaurant and focused on ways to promote the restaurant.

During the Korean War, he volunteered for the army to avoid the draft and have some choice in assignments. Having experience in overseeing the feeding of others, Thomas chose Cook and Bakers School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was sent overseas to Germany as a mess sergeant and was responsible for feeding 2000 soldiers daily. He later attributed his success in fast food to this experience in mass feedings. Thomas was discharged in 1953 as a staff sergeant.

He was then offered a chance to turn around a failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Working with KFC founder Col. Harland Sanders, Dave turned four ailing stores into million-dollar successes. He later sold his KFC franchises and opened his first Wendy's in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969.

Thomas, realizing that his success as a high-school dropout might convince other teenagers to do so (something he later admitted was a mistake), studied for and finally earned his GED in 1993.

Thomas died in 2002 at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after a decade-long struggle with liver cancer. At the time of his death, there were over 6,000 Wendy's restaurants operating in North America.

See also

• Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Dave Thomas", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki