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Rex David "Dave" Thomas (July 2, 1932 –
January 8, 2002) was the founder and chairman of
Wendy's|Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, a fast
food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers.
He is also known for personally appearing in over
800 commercial advertisements for the chain from
1989 to 2002, more than any other person in
television history. He had such presence in these
ads that many believed he was a professional
actor.

Thomas started out in business by purchasing four
KFC Franchising|franchises, and he was strongly
influenced by KFC founder Colonel Sanders|Colonel
Harland Sanders. He later sold his KFC franchises
and opened his first Wendy's in Columbus,
Ohio|Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. At the time of his
death, there were over 6000 Wendy's restaurants
operating in North America. 

Thomas was born in Atlantic City, New
Jersey|Atlantic City, New Jersey to a mother he
never met.  Adopted as an infant, Thomas was
himself a well-known advocate for adoption,
founding the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
in 1992.  Having dropped out of high school at age
15, he finally got his GED in 1993. Thomas died in
2002 at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort
Lauderdale, Florida after a decade-long struggle
with liver cancer.

==See also==
* Wendy's

==References==
* wendys.com (7 January 2003).
http://www.wendys.com/dave/davethomas_biography.pd
f "Dave Thomas Biography". Retrieved 1 June 2005.