COLUMBUS, OHIO — Dave Thomas, the pudgy founder of the Wendy's hamburger chain whose homespun commercials helped turn it into one of the world's top fast-food enterprises, died Tuesday of liver cancer. He was 69.
Thomas, who died at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had been undergoing kidney dialysis for nearly a year and had quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1996.
Dave Thomas, shown in this 1994 file photo, died late Monday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Thomas built Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers into one of the world's most successful fast-food franchises.
Thomas became a household name when he began pitching his burgers and fries in TV commercials in 1989 for Wendy's International, based in Dublin, Ohio.
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 was 12 when he got his first restaurant job as a counterman in Knoxville, Tenn.
In 1956, he was working at a barbecue restaurant in Fort Wayne, Ind., when Col. Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame stopped in on a promotional tour. Thomas' boss bought a KFC franchise, and six years later, Thomas came to Columbus to take over four failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants.
He sold them back to the founder in 1968 for $1.5 million, making him a millionaire at 35.
He opened his first Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers in Columbus a year later. He named the restaurant after his 8-year-old daughter Melinda Lou, nicknamed Wendy by her siblings.
Thomas said the burgers were square because Wendy's didn't cut corners.
The chain now has 6,000 restaurants worldwide. In 1996, Wendy's acquired Canadian-based Tim Hortons, a coffee and baked goods chain with more than 2,000 stores. Both have combined sales of more than $8 billion.
Thomas, who was adopted as an infant, created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, an organization focused on raising public awareness of adoption. The profits from his books, "Well Done!" and "Dave's Way," go to the foundation.
He once testified before a congressional committee about the importance of creating incentives for adoption.
"I know firsthand how important it is for every child to have a home and loving family," he said. "Without a family, I would not be where I am today."
Thomas took great pride in getting his high school equivalency certificate in 1993, telling 2,500 public school seniors 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.
Thomas tried to retire in 1982 but came back in 1989. "They took the focus off the consumer," he said of the executives who took over the company.
Five years ago, the company staged a lookalike contest that attracted 1,600 entrants vying for the grand prize: a chance to appear in a commercial with Thomas.
Thomas is survived by his wife, Lorraine; five children and 16 grandchildren.
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