COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dave Thomas, the pitchman whose homespun ads built Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers into one of the world's most successful fast-food enterprises, died Tuesday of liver cancer. He was 69.
Thomas died around midnight at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the company said. Thomas had been undergoing kidney dialysis since early 2001 and had quadruple heart bypass surgery in December 1996.
"He was the heart and soul of our company. 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," said Jack Schuessler, chairman and chief executive of Wendy's, based in the Columbus suburb of Dublin.
The founder and senior chairman of Wendy's International became a household name when he began pitching his burgers and fries in television commercials in 1989. The smiling Thomas, always wearing a white shirt and red tie, touted the virtues of fast food in his ads.
"As long as it works, I'll continue to do the commercials," Thomas said in a 1991 interview. "When it's not working any longer, then I'm history."
But burgers weren't his first love. Thomas, who was adopted as an infant, became a national advocate for adoption.
He created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a not-for-profit organization focused on raising public awareness of adoption. The profits from his books, "Dave's Way" and "Well Done!" go to the foundation.
"I know firsthand how important it is for every child to have a home and loving family," he testified before Congress. "Without a family, I would not be where I am today."
Born July 2, 1932, Thomas was 12 when he got his first job — delivering groceries in Knoxville, Tenn. He joined the restaurant business in the 1950s.
While working at a barbecue restaurant in Fort Wayne, Ind., he met KFC founder Col. Harland Sanders.
Thomas came to Columbus in 1962 to take over four failing KFC restaurants for his boss, who promised Thomas a 45 percent stake in them if he turned them around. Sanders sold the restaurants back to KFC for $1.5 million in 1968, making Thomas 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.
The chain grew to 4,800 restaurants in the United States and 34 countries by 1996.
Despite his success, it wasn't until 1993 that Thomas earned a high school equivalency certificate. That year, he told 2,500 Columbus 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.