"Hi, I'm Dave Thomas." The familiar words at the beginning of almost every Wendy's commercial since 1989 will soon fade into memory, following the death of the pitchman early Tuesday morning from liver cancer at his home. He was 69.
But officials at the Fuqua School of Business say his impact on the school, through the R. David Thomas Executive Conference Center, and on the restaurant business, will not quickly disappear.
Thomas, who became associated with the University through his Florida neighbor, business school founder J.B. Fuqua, gave $4 million to fund the center in 1986. "Without the center, we would definitely not be a top 10 business school," said Jim Gray, Fuqua's associate dean for marketing and communications.
Fuqua agreed. "I knew Dave as both an accomplished businessman and unselfish supporter of many causes ranging from Duke and its business school to groups helping children find adopted homes," he wrote in a statement. "He was also my friend and neighbor in Florida. We will miss him, but his legacies in business and philanthropy will live on for many years."
In addition to his financial gifts, Thomas served the University as a trustee from 1988 to 1997; he had also served on Fuqua's Board of Visitors since 1986. Additionally, he had worked with the Medical Center through the Duke Children's Hospital and the annual Children's Classic golf tournament.
Tom Keller, dean of the business school at the time of Thomas' gift, said Thomas has also contributed to the University by relaying to students his straightforward customers-first business principles.
"There was nothing high-tech about Dave. He was just a fundamental good businessman," he said.
Thomas, who did not complete high school, got his start working at a barbecue restaurant in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he met and learned from KFC founder Col. Harland Sanders, who in 1962 offered him part ownership of four Columbus restaurants.
In 1963, he opened his first Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers in Columbus. Today, the chain has 6,000 restaurants in over 30 countries.
The University itself nearly brought a Wendy's to campus in 1998, but protests over labor practices halted the efforts.
With the earnings his success garnered, Thomas, who was adopted himself, also started the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to raise public awareness of and political support for the issue.
The Fuqua school has not yet made any memorial plans.
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