Edition: U.S. / Global

Dave Thomas, 69, Wendy's Founder, Dies

Published: January 9, 2002

Dave Thomas, an orphan who went to work in restaurants at 12 and by dint of hard work, quality control and shrewd marketing made Wendy's the third-largest hamburger chain in the world, died yesterday. He was 69 and was known to millions as the folksy character who made a low-key personal pitch for his own fast foods in more than 800 television commercials.

He died of liver cancer at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., according to the company he founded, Wendy's International. He had been undergoing kidney dialysis since early 2001 and had quadruple heart bypass surgery in December 1996.

Mr. Thomas was adopted as a baby, but he lost his adoptive mother when he was 5 and two stepmothers before he was 10. His closest relationship was with his grandmother, with whom he spent summers. He said she had taught him the values he strove to build into Wendy's, particularly her oft-repeated admonition, ''Don't cut corners.''

Hence, the square shape of Wendy's hamburgers.

Mr. Thomas became a leading champion for the adoption of foster children, arguing that they needed love in their lives. President George Bush named him as a national spokesman on adoption issues, and when President Clinton signed a bill in 1996 to give parents who adopt children a tax credit, he thanked Mr. Thomas for his leadership.

Mr. Thomas's greatest fame came from his Horatio Alger-style success story in building an empire of Wendy's restaurants, a dream that began with his frustration at being unable to find a good hamburger in downtown Columbus, Ohio. When he opened his first restaurant, on Nov. 15, 1969, his biggest ambition was that he might eventually expand so he could give each of his five children a place to work in the summer.

Within less than a decade, there were 1,000 Wendy's, and today there are more than 6,000. The company acquired Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee and baked goods chain in 1995 and owns 2,000 of its stores.

''From humble beginnings,'' said Steven C. Anderson, president and chief executive of the National Restaurant Association, in a statement yesterday, ''he achieved an unprecedented level of success in a highly competitive segment of the restaurant business.''

Mr. Thomas began by naming his first restaurant, at Fifth and Broad Streets in Columbus, after a daughter who was nicknamed Wendy. He had her on hand -- with her freckles, blue-and-white striped dress and red-and-white striped socks -- to greet the first customers.

As the company grew to hold 13 percent of the burger restaurant market -- compared with 43 percent for McDonald's and 19 percent for Burger King, according to Technomic, a Chicago company that tracks the industry -- the down-home style was seldom forgotten.

The focus of Wendy's ads for the last decade has been Mr. Thomas. A company survey found that 90 percent of Americans knew Mr. Thomas as Wendy's founder and that 70 percent recognized him by his name.

He has appeared in loud floral shirts and wacky ties, but most often in a short-sleeved white shirt and a red tie. Sometimes he shared the camera with a cute dog or a celebrity, but the pitch was relentlessly straightforward: a friendly offer to sell a high-quality product at a fair price in a friendly environment.

Mr. Thomas is said to have appeared in more commercials than the combined appearances in ads of Lee Iacocca, of Chrysler; Orville Redenbacher, of the popcorn brand; and Colonel Sanders, of fried-chicken fame. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Mr. Thomas's spots as the ''Longest-Running Television Advertising Campaign Starring a Company Founder.''

Rex David Thomas was born on July 2, 1932, in Atlantic City to a mother he never knew. He was adopted by a couple from Kalamazoo, Mich., when he was 6 weeks old. His adoptive mother, Auleva Thomas, died of rheumatic fever when he was 5.

He traveled from city to city as his adoptive father, Rex, struggled to find work and remarried three times. When his father was single, the father and son often lived in dirty rooming houses and cramped trailers. He spent summers with Mrs. Thomas's mother, Minnie Sinclair.

''Hard work is good for the soul,'' Mr. Thomas remembered her saying. ''It keeps you from feeling sorry for yourself because you don't have time.''

His favorite thing to do with her was to eat lunch at the counter of a five-and-dime store. He also ate out with his father almost every evening. Since his father did not talk to him very much, he studied how things worked in restaurants. When he was 8, he decided that he would have a restaurant one day.

''Popeye wasn't my hero,'' he recalled. ''Wimpy was, because he loved hamburgers.''

At 10, after his father moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., and remarried, Mr. Thomas sought work. In the next two years, he had stints as a paperboy, a golf caddy, a grocery deliverer and a pinsetter. At 12, he found work at a Walgreen's soda fountain, but he was fired when the manager found out that he was not 16.

At 15, while living in Fort Wayne, he landed his first restaurant job. He was impressed that his boss wore a three-piece suit but mopped the floor and cleaned tables.

''If my boss can do everything, I can, too.'' the boy vowed.

When his family moved again, Mr. Thomas refused to go. He dropped out of 10th grade and went to work full time.