Wally Amos, creator of the iconic cookie brand Famous Amos, died in his Honolulu, Hawai’i home on Tuesday. He was 88 years old.
Amos died of complications from dementia, his children Shawn and Sarah Amos told The New York Times. The entrepreneur, born in Florida in 1936, founded Famous Amos.
The cookie business, which relied on his aunt’s recipe, launched in 1975 with a single storefront in Los Angeles, California, before quickly expanding into a nationwide brand. By 1981, Famous Amos was a $12 million company, the Times reports.
Amos found success by elevating an “everyday item into a gourmet experience,” according to Jesse Szewczyk, author of Cookies: The New Classics.
“The concept of a zero-preservative, craft-made cookie was uncommon,” Szewczyk told the History Channel.
Soon after launching Famous Amos, the entrepreneur became a household name. Amos was featured on the cover of Time magazine and made guest appearances on iconic TV shows like “The Jeffersons,” the Times reports. He also appeared on “The Office.”
Amos led the company for several years but struggled to keep up profits, the Times reports. He was forced to completely sell his stake in the company in 1988.
“I was stupid, plain and simple. I sold the company and didn’t realize I had sold my future along with it,” Amos told CNBC.
However, Amos did not back down. In 2016, the entrepreneur appeared on “Shark Tank” to pitch his latest cookie venture: The Cookie Kahuna. While the Shark Tank investors recognized Amos and his success, they did not take the offer.
The Cookie Kahuna eventually went out of business due to a “not-so-good business arrangement,” Amos told Charlotte Magazine.
“I put the whole business together, my business partner put up the money, and it didn’t go so well,” he continued.
Amos went on to work on a new brand, Aunt Della’s Cookies, in 2018.
“This is my last company, I can tell you that for sure,” he told Charlotte Magazine. “Put that on my tombstone: ‘He died starting one last cookie company.’”
