Harland Sanders
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| Harland David "Colonel" Sanders | |
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| Born | September 9, 1890 Henryville, Indiana, U.S. |
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| Died | December 16, 1980 (aged 90) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Spouse(s) | Josephine King (divorced) Claudia Price |
| Children | Margaret Sanders Brandon Sanders, Grant Sanders Mildred Sanders |
| Parents | Wilbur David Sanders Margaret Ann Sanders (née Dunlevy)[1] |
Harland David Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was an American entrepreneur who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). His image is omnipresent in the chain's advertising and packaging, and his name is sometimes used as a synonym for the KFC product or restaurant itself.
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[edit] Early life and career
Sanders was born to a Presbyterian family in Henryville, Indiana. His father, Wilbur David Sanders, died when he was five years old, and since his mother worked, he was required to cook for his family. He dropped out of school in seventh grade. When his mother remarried he ran away from home because his stepfather beat him. During his early years, Sanders worked many jobs, including steamboat pilot, insurance salesman, railroad fireman, farmer, and enlisted in the Army as a private when he was only 16 years old (by lying about his age), spending his entire service commitment in Cuba.
At the age of 40, Sanders cooked chicken dishes and other meals for people who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. Since he did not have a restaurant, he served customers in his living quarters in the service station. His local popularity grew, and Sanders moved to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people and worked as the chef. Over the next nine years, he developed his method of cooking chicken. Furthermore, he made use of a pressure fryer that allowed the chicken to be cooked much faster than by pan frying.
He was given the honorary title "Kentucky Colonel" in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. Sanders chose to call himself "Colonel" and to dress in a stereotypical "Southern gentleman" style as a way of self-promotion.
After the construction of Interstate 75 reduced his restaurant's customer traffic, Sanders took to franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, starting at age 65, using $105 from his first Social Security check to fund visits to potential franchisees. [2]
Tony Robbins tells his story as a key asset to personal success, since Sanders allegedly had 1,009 rejections when trying to establish his franchise, until he co-founded the now international restaurant chain KFC.
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Wikinews has related news: Colonel Sanders statue lost in 1985 recovered from river in Japan |
Sanders sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken corporation in 1964 for $2 million to a partnership of Kentucky businessmen headed by John Y. Brown, Jr. The deal did not include the Canadian operations, where Sanders continued to collect franchise fees. Sanders continued on with Kentucky Fried Chicken as its spokesperson and collected appearance fees for his visits to franchises in the United States and Canada. In 1973 he sued Heublein Inc. (the KFC parent company at the time) over alleged misuse of his image in promoting products he had not helped develop. In 1975 Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he publicly referred to their gravy as "sludge" with a "wallpaper taste". [3]
[edit] Death and legacy
Sanders died in Louisville, Kentucky, of pneumonia on December 16, 1980.[4][5] He had been diagnosed with acute leukemia the previous June.[6] His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol; after a funeral service at the Southern Baptist Seminary Chapel attended by more than 1,000 people, he was buried in his characteristic white suit and black western string tie in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
He had a son, Harland, Jr., who died at a young age, and two daughters, Margaret Sanders and Mildred Ruggles.[6]
Since his death, Colonel Sanders has been portrayed by voice actors in Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials on the radio, and an animated version of him has been used for television commercials (voiced by actor Randy Quaid). The Colonel also appeared, portrayed by drummer Brooks Wackerman, as part of Tenacious D's backing band for their last world tour.
A recording of a terminally ill Colonel Harland Sanders muddling his way through his last Kentucky Fried Chicken Commercial, can be found on the "Brother Russell Podcast" here: http://melba.podbean.com/2007/06/
In 1965 Sanders moved to Mississauga, Ontario to oversee his Canadian franchises. Sanders later used his shares to create the Colonel Harland Sanders Trust and Colonel Harland Sanders Charitable Organization, which used the proceeds to aid charities and fund scholarships. His trusts continue to donate money to groups like the Trillium Health Care Centre; a wing of their building specializes in women's and children's care and has been named after him.[7] The foundation granted over $1,000,000 in 2007, according to its 2007 tax return. The foundation is based in Sidney, British Columbia Check The Harland Sanders Foundation on the CRA web site, http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/chrts/menu-eng.html.
[edit] References
- ^ "Harlan Sander's Family Tree". www.genealogy.com. http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/colonel-sanders/index.html?cj=1&o_xid=0001177077&o_lid=0001177077. Retrieved on 2009-03-09.
- ^ I've Got A Secret interview, originally broadcast April 6, 1964 (rebroadcast by GSN March 30, 2008).
- ^ Kleber, John E.; Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter (June 1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky. p. 796. ISBN 0-81311-772-0.
- ^ "Milestones". Time. 1980-12-29. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922291,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
- ^ "Col. Sanders, 90, Dies of Pneumonia". The Washington Post. 1980-12-17.
- ^ a b Edith Evans Asbury (1980-12-17). "Col. Harland Sanders, Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dies: [Obituary]". The New York Times: p. A33.
- ^ About Us: Tillium Health Center
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harland Sanders |
- Kentucky Fried Chicken
- Harland Sanders at Find a Grave
- CBC Archives CBC Radio talks with Colonel Sanders about Canadian food and cooking (from 1957).
[edit] Further reading
- Pearce, John, The Colonel (1982) ISBN 0-385-18122-1
- Kleber, John J. et al. (1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 0-8131-1772-0.
- Encyclopedia of Kentucky. New York, New York: Somerset Publishers. 1987. pp. 185–186. ISBN 0403099811.
