Wallace “Wally” Amos, founder of the iconic cookie brand “Famous Amos,” died Wednesday at the age of 88.
Amos died peacefully at his home following a battle with dementia, his children Sarah and Shawn confirmed, according to the New York Times.
Amos created his brand from a family recipe in a Hollywood, California bakery in 1975, according to the Famous Amos website. Amos set out to perfect “the ultimate bite-size chocolate chip cookie.”
He kept the cookies as close to homemade as possible, utilizing real ingredients and avoiding added chemicals and coloring, according to the NYT.
“Our dad inspired a generation of entrepreneurs,” Amos’ children said in a statement, CBS News reported. “With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride. It’s also part of our family story for which we will forever be grateful and proud.”
Wally “Famous” Amos, an entrepreneur who founded the cookie brand Famous Amos, has died. He was 88https://t.co/20ZXTbUAiM pic.twitter.com/a9NDzgyiz3
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 14, 2024
His son Shawn told CBS he worked in the front of the bakery on Sunset Boulevard while his father baked cookies in the back. Shawn, an author and blues musician, released a book in 2022 titled “Cookies and Milk,” in which he describes his experience growing up as the Famous Amos founder’s son.
“It’s a book about joy, it’s a book about fathers and sons who want to be seen by each other,” he told CBS. (RELATED: Fandango Founder Reportedly Identified As Man Who Jumped To His Death From High-End Hotel).
The founder’s children acknowledged their father’s teachings of hard work and dedication, calling him “a true original Black American hero,” CBS reported.
Amos’ bakery made $300,000 in revenue in its first year, according to the NYT. It later became a $12 million company in 1981 (roughly $42 million in present-day currency), the outlet reported. Additional Stores began popping up throughout the country as the brand began selling packaged products distributed in grocery stores.