Ray and Jane divorced in 1968. wid: "653616", In 1922, Ray Kroc first married his high school sweetheart, Ethel Fleming. Ray Kroc is known to make a number of innovations in the food service industry. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=3207, http://www.biography.com/people/ray-kroc-9369349, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbell1975/4219801663/. His wife Joan also inherited ownership of the San Diego Padres MLB team, on the team jerseys, his initials, "RAK" were emblazoned on the left sleeve of the jersey that year, as the team then went on to win the National League Pennant in 1984, losing to the Detroit Tigers in that year's World Series.
He now bought San Diego Padres and concentrated on improving the team. [27] They won the NL pennant that year and played in the 1984 World Series.
var p = 'https:' == document.location.protocol ? He married Smith in 1969, even though she was the wife of a franchisee when they met in 1958 and apparently carried on a clandestine affair.
Ray Kroc is popular for expanding McDonald’s from the local market to the profitable finest restaurant. After Kroc’s death, Dick made a grudging peace with the global chain – which has now sold over 300billion burgers – and often took his step-grandchildren to the local outlet. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click here. Frustrated with the team, he handed over operations of the team to his son-in-law, Ballard Smith.
"The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. [29] Upon her death in 2003, her remaining $2.7 billion estate was distributed among a number of nonprofit organizations, including $1.5 billion donation to The Salvation Army to build 26 Kroc Centers, community centers serving underserved neighborhoods, throughout the country. Once referred to by Harvard Business School as “the service sector’s equivalent of Henry Ford”, Kroc but had a modest beginning. Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. The fast food model caught the attention of other potential restaurant owners, including Glen Bell before opening his first Taco Bell outlet. [29][4], In 1973, Kroc received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 1919, at the age of 17, Ray Kroc began his career in sales, supplementing his income as a pianist at a nightclub or as a DJ at the local radio station. [4][5] He joined the California company McDonald's in 1954, after the McDonald brothers had franchised six locations out from their original 1940 operation in San Bernardino. But family members claim he "cheated" them out of hundreds of millions in royalties and wiped their name off the history books. In 1963, he married Jane Dobbins Green, a secretary. In 1917, on completion of his sophomore year, Ray decided to join the ongoing First World War as an ambulance driver, hoping to serve on the front line.
Today the world knows him as Walt Disney; the well-known film producer, voice actor, entertainer and animator. Likewise, the third wife of Kroc, Jona owned several real estates. d.getElementById("contentad479487").appendChild(s); However, Harry Sonneborn, whom Kroc referred to as his "financial wizard", was able to raise the required funds. The duo was highschool lovers but it never meant they wouldn’t separate. While he was looking for new challenges, he decided to get back into baseball, his lifelong favorite sport, when he learned that the San Diego Padres were for sale.
[24], On April 9, 1974, while the Padres were on the brink of losing a 9–5 decision to the Houston Astros in the season opener at San Diego Stadium, Kroc took the public address microphone in front of 39,083 fans. ", When Michael Keaton played Kroc in the 2016 film The Founder, he admitted: "First of all, I didn’t know that there were McDonald brothers and that was really interesting.”, Jason French, Dick’s grandson, says his family refused to talk about McDonald's when he was growing up, adding: “I remember him saying once, when I was a teenager, 'That guy really got me.’”. The philanthropic endeavor, which he launched with wife Joan, was dear to his heart, as Kroc himself became afflicted with diabetes and arthritis in his later years, and his only sister with MS. Then in 1973, he resigned from his post as corporation's CEO, handing the job to Fred Turner, who had worked as a cook in Kroc's first McDonald's franchise and had been named president in 1968. On April 15, 1955, Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.