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Dave Thomas Bio, Founder of Wendy's

Born July 2, 1932, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dave Thomas was raised by adoptive parents (he would later be a well-known advocate for adoption) who moved often, which as a teenager meant he worked at a number of different restaurants and other businesses. When he approached draft age, he volunteered for the U.S. Army and was sent to Germany as a mess sergeant during the Korean War; he often said that having to feed two thousand soldiers every day prepared him for the fast food industry.

Upon his discharged from the Army, Thomas took a job running a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, and in time took four of their less successful locations and turned them around. When he sold his KFC franchises, he opened his first Wendy's hamburger stand in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969, naming it for his 2 year old daughter Melinda Lou. The company prospered in the Ohio area, but spread slowly otherwise; he took a step back from the day to day operations of the business in 1982, until urged back by his replacement. From that point on, Thomas began to personally visit the many Wendy's franchises, advocating hard work and a basic work ethic, just as he had done in his days at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Throughout the late 80s and 1990s, Thomas appeared in all the television commercials for Wendy's. When he realized what a public figure he had become, he went back to high school long enough to brush up on the basics so he could earn his GED -- afraid that, as a highly successful high school drop out, he might be setting a bad example for teenagers. He died of liver cancer in 2002, after a prolonged battle.

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