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Article: Dave Thomas, folksy founder of Wendy's restaurants, dies at 69.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- January 8, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MIAMI_Dave Thomas, the poor orphan from New Jersey who built the nation's third largest fast-food hamburger chain and put his own grandfatherly face on TV to promote it, died Tuesday of liver cancer in his Fort Lauderdale home. He was 69.
Shy and plain-spoken, Thomas appeared as his homespun self in more than 800 commercials for his fast-food empire. His image was as much a part of Americana as the freckled face of his daughter Melinda "Wendy" Thomas, the company's symbol and namesake.
"Dave Thomas is Wendy's to the public," said restaurant consultant Bob Goldin.
Adopted into a hard-luck family, Thomas went to work at 12 and made his first ...