Wallace “Wally” Amos, founder of the popular cookie brand Famous Amos, died Wednesday at age 88.
Amos died peacefully at home after a battle with dementia, his sons Sarah and Sean confirmed. According to The New York Times.
Amos founded the brand in 1975 in a bakery in Hollywood, California, based on family recipes. According to The famous Amos website. Amos set out to perfect “the ultimate bite-sized chocolate chip cookie.”
According to the NYT, he uses real ingredients and avoids added chemicals and colorings to make his cookies as close to homemade as possible.
“Our father inspired a generation of entrepreneurs,” Amos's children said in a statement, CBS News reported. Reported“With his Panama hat, kazoo and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story and a source of black pride. It is also a part of our family story for which we will be forever grateful and proud.”
Wally “Famous” Amos, the entrepreneur who founded the cookie brand “Famous Amos,” has passed away. He was 88 years old.https://t.co/20ZXTbUAiM pic.twitter.com/a9NDzgyiz3
— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 14, 2024
His son, Sean, told CBS that he worked behind the counter at the bakery on Sunset Boulevard while his father baked cookies in the back. Sean, a writer and blues musician, is releasing a book in 2022 called “Cookies and Milk,” about his experiences growing up as the son of the founder of Famous Amos.
“It's a book about joy, and it's a book about a father and son who long to see each other,” he told CBS. (Related article: Fandango founder reportedly identified as man who jumped to death from luxury hotel).
The founder's children acknowledged their father's teachings of hard work and dedication, calling him “a true and original black American hero,” CBS reported.
According to The New York Times, Amos Bakery generated $300,000 in revenue in its first year, before becoming a $12 million business (about $42 million in today's dollars) by 1981. New stores began opening across the country as the brand began selling packaged goods distributed in grocery stores.
