At the age of 12, he started working the counter at a restaurant in Tennessee. When his family moved to Florida, he started working at another restaurant, full-time. The problem? He was only 15, and had dropped out of high school.

But he had already heard the siren song of the restaurant business. Of course, there was the brief stint in the goat-herding industry, but an opportunity in the armed forces set him back onto his path of fast-food righteousness.

An encounter with the Colonel (don't act like you don't know who I mean) convinced him and his partner to open up a KFC Franchise.

But Dave needed more. His boss, Phil Clauss, assigned him to revamp four KFC restaurants. Dave was successful, and became a millionaire before his 40th birthday.

Alas, his dream was still unfulfilled -- he wanted a place he could call his own. A place where old-fashioned hamburgers would be made fresh, daily. At first, his dream was humble; he hoped to open four or five stores at the most. But the public was insatiable -- and so the reality was even sweeter than the dream.

With all of this success, you'd think that Dave would flounder. But he continued to appear in countless TV commercials for his beloved restaurant, and also wrote two books on the subjects of marketing and business.

Dave Thomas was a man with humble origins who aspired to great heights -- a bastion of capitalism and free will. His life was cut short by a rare form of cancer that slowly grew over ten years, turning his insides into something vaguely resembling his world-famous hamburgers. But his legend will live on. Raise the flag to half-mast and order a #7 for Dave.

Godspeed, Dave.