Chick-Fil-A's founder, S. Truett Cathy, passed away this morning at the age of 93.
Famously Christian in its founding, including closing on Sundays and playing religious music, Chick-Fil-A has become a popular restaurant, especially in the South.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that in addition to his business savvy, Cathy “founded a youth-ministry organization, WinShape Foundation, in 1984, which provides leadership training and college scholarships to young people. Through the foundation, 13 foster homes have been created to provide long-term care for foster children in a family setting.”
Cathy founded his first restaurant in 1946, and opened Chick-Fil-A in 1967. The Washington Post notes that the company has surpassed five billion dollars in annual sales, and Cathy was worth over six billion dollars at the time of his death, despite a childhood of poverty.
Cathy's son, Dan, is the company's chairman and president. It is still owned by the Cathy family, and the Post reports that the company can never go public, per a contract all of the younger Cathys signed that allowed them to take over the company.
In 2012, Dan sparked a national controversy when he publicly defended marriage. The controversy, which led homosexual advocates to attack the chain as “homophobic” and “anti-gay,” subsided within months.
Chick-Fil-A's commitment to Christian values has not prevented it from serving or employing homosexual employees.
May Cathy rest in peace, proud of the work he has done to promote Christian values even while maximizing his incredible talent and hard work for the economic and charitable benefits of society.