Yesterday we lost one of the most important businessmen in the world. Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's fast food chain, died of liver cancer at the age of 69. He has left us with an amazing legacy of making it from nothing, of succeeding in the face of terrible odds, of finding amazing success without possessing any of the usually associated advantages. Dave Thomas was a completely self made man, and it is from him that I have taken my philosophy of doing business. Dave started out as a fry.