Wendy's hamburger chain founder Thomas dies at 69

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.

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.

Starting with chicken

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's 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. He tried to retire in 1982 but came back in 1989. "They took the focus off the consumer," he said.

Thomas is survived by his wife, Lorraine; five children and 16 grandchildren.