By Arlene McKanic
From most accounts, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas was a swell guy. He passed away Jan. 8, after a long struggle with liver cancer, and the tributes began immediately. His impact in Queens, of course was enormous — how many people haven’t been inside a Wendy’s at one point? Not only did he have dozens of the vaguely Victorian looking franchises throughout the borough, but most of his homey, idiosyncratic TV commercials were filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City.
“He was a great guy, wonderful man, very sweet, funny,” said Alan Suna, the CEO of Silvercup. “I knew him for 13 years, and we took golf trips together. Wendy’s was a very good, big client, and I would say that up from 1989-1996 they did just about all of their commercials here at Silvercup Studios. They don’t have facilities like Silvercup in [Wendy’s headquarters] Columbus, Ohio, and it made a lot of sense. Dave had a heart attack in 1996, so I think for a year we didn’t do any, and he spent the better part of that year in Florida.”
“Wendy’s stores a lot of sets, including complete restaurants,” adds Suna. “Even when they shoot in Florida they take the stuff down from Silvercup and ship it back up. Works well for them and works well for us. We did close to 800 commercials over 12 years. We always did a a bunch at a time, 12 in a week or two in a week. Just now we did a whole package for the Hispanic community.” Thomas, however, hadn’t been up to Queens in probably two years due to his doctor’s advice.
“I’ve known Dave for 22 years, and we traveled on the road with him for 20 years,” said Denny Lynch, Vice President of Communications at Wendy's and President of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Thomas created the foundation in 1992 to raise awareness for the 130,000 children in America who are in the foster care system and available for adoption. Thomas was adopted himself, and believed every child deserves a permanent, loving family. The foundation’s focus is on finding homes for them.
“Dave did a lot of speeches,” Lynch recalled. “We did a lot of visits to restaurants. He had a lot of respect for the managers and didn’t want to surprise them because he didn’t think it was fair. He always gave advance notice, because it was hectic when Dave came in. He always traveled with an entourage. He’d talk to the managers about running restaurants. He’d say ‘If I can do it,you can do it.’”
“Dave wasn’t eager to do commercials, because he wasn’t an actor, but he thought ‘Well, I’ll try it.’” Lynch said. “He tried to be himself, and basically said to you, ‘I like this food.’ No hard sell. He was like your grandfather. Everyone could relate to Dave.”
When Thomas was filming at Silvercup he visited former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman a couple of times and she in turn visited the studio. Few people will forget the five Wendy’s employees who were murdered with unusual savagery at the Flushing Main Street restaurant in May 2000. In their honor, Wendy’s adopted a pin oak and planted an ikebono yoshino cherry tree at the Queens Botanical Garden.
“Dave did come out for the planting ceremony on September 25, 2000,” recalled Margaret Ann Tockarshewsky, spokeswoman for the garden. “It was at the suggestion of Claire Shulman, and her office made the arrangements. We were very glad to serve as a setting. The pin oak is in the oak allee, and it’s the first tree you see as you come in from Main Street. It’s the first tree on the left. The cherry tree is in the cherry circle.”
Current Queens Borough President Helen Marshall was also touched by Thomas’ passing. “Besides being a tremendously successful businessman, Dave Thomas was a great humanitarian. His lifelong interest in children and efforts on behalf of adoptive parents will be a great part of his legacy.”
Lynch gave one of the eulogies at Thomas’ funeral. “It’s an incredible honor to be able to talk about a man I have loved as a father and a major part of my life,” he said. “The eulogy was the hardest thing I had to do but I will remember this and cherish this for all of my life. Just to be able to speak about Dave. He always, always looked to do things the right way. Always. His honesty and integrity were beyond reproach.”
Lynch added “I had someone else say this and it was so true. The first day was as good as the last. I never had a bad day with Dave. We were out of town 100 nights, sometimes 150 nights a year. I went almost went 22 years talking to Dave every day. He was that big a part of my life.”
Lynch also was aware of Thomas’ keen bond with foster children. “Dave was very touched when he’d meet foster children. He wanted to say to them that if you have a goal, a dream, you can achieve the dream. He didn’t have a lot of help along the way. He had to get started on his own, with his own money, and that’s hard. He had to earn everything he achieved.”
Lynch recounted a story of an occasion where he personally witnessed Thomas make a huge difference in the lives of two children. “We were in one city where he met two foster children that were available for adoption, a brother and sister – the boy was older. Dave told them they had to stay together even though the boy didn’t want to because the sister had a scar from being abused. But Dave told them they had to stay together. He went up and talked to the social worker and he gave each of them a $100 bill, and told them they had to spend it on each other. They did. Six months later they were adopted together.”
“That’s just one little story,” said Lynch. “And he never told anybody about this.”
