Ray Kroc
5 October 1902 – 14 January 1984
Ray Kroc was an American businessman who turned McDonald's from a small California hamburger operation into a global fast-food franchise chain. A former milkshake-mixer salesman, he opened his first franchised McDonald's in 1955, bought out the founding McDonald brothers in 1961 and later owned the San Diego Padres baseball team.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Ray Kroc.
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Life events
Raymond Albert Kroc was born to Czech-American parents in a suburb of Chicago.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter years selling paper cups, Kroc acquired the marketing rights to the Multimixer and sold the machines to restaurants across the United States.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIntrigued by an order for eight Multimixers, Kroc visited Richard and Maurice McDonald's efficient hamburger stand and proposed franchising it nationally.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgKroc's restaurant in Des Plaines became the model for the chain he built through McDonald's Systems, Inc.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgKroc purchased the McDonald brothers' rights to the company and name for 2.7 million dollars.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgKroc married Joan Beverly Smith, who after his death became a prominent philanthropist known as Joan Kroc.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgKroc bought the Major League Baseball club, keeping it in San Diego after a planned move to Washington, D.C. had fallen through.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe memoir, written with Robert Anderson, recounted his career and the growth of McDonald's.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgKroc died of heart failure at a hospital in San Diego at the age of 81.
Source: en.wikipedia.org