On January 8, 2002 both the adoption community and the business community lost a great leader and humble champion. Dave Thomas, known to millions as the founder of Wendy’s restaurants, passed away after a ten-year battle with liver cancer. He was 69.

Rex David Thomas was born to a single mother in 1932 and adopted by Rex and Auleva Thomas six weeks later. Sadly, his adoptive mother died when he was just 5, and Dave spent the next 10 years traveling from city to city while Rex struggled to find work and remarried three times.

Dave was lucky enough, however, to spend summers with his dad’s mother. The summers he spent with her, he recalled later, were among the happiest of his life. Grandma Sinclair looked out for Dave, made him feel good about himself, and taught him the value of hard work. She was also the person who told him, at age 13, that he was adopted.

By age 15 , Dave had dropped out of school and was working in a restaurant full-time. His big break came in 1962 when a former boss offered Dave a share in a floundering Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Columbus, Ohio. Dave turned the franchise around, and sold it for $1.5 million in 1968. The next year he opened his first Wendy’s restaurant. Since then, Wendy’s has grown into an international chain of more than 6,000 restaurants.

In 1990, at President Bush’s request, Dave became the spokesman for a new special needs adoption initiative. Wendy’s corporate side also devoted energy to promoting adoption and encouraging employers to offer adoption benefits. In July of 1992 , Dave

Extended his commitment to adoption by establishing the non-profit Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and in 1998, the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law opened at Capital University Law School.

Over the years, Dave’s simple sincerity and tireless dedication helped spread the word about adoption very successfully. As Professor Kent Markus, director of the Adoption Law Center, observed, Dave “dedicated his time, his charisma, his energy, his celebrity, and his none too limited persuasive capabilities to the adoption cause day after day after day.” Dave also testified before congress, and spent long hours promoting the adoption stamp issued by the post office in 2000.

At NACAC’s 1995 conference, Dave accepted the Child Advocate of the Year award with his usual candor and touching humility. On January 29, 2002, Congress passed a resolution honoring him. “Children have lost a hero in Dave Thomas,” said Representative Connie Morella, “but his legacy will live on.”

“On January 16, 2002,” reads the colorful funeral program, “Ronald Francis Johnson was drafter into God’s Hall of Fame after 47 illustrious years as a first round draft pick and head coach to thousands.” As the hundreds of friends and well wishers who attended his funeral can attest, Ron Johnson was indeed a vibrant leader, inspiration, and teacher to many. The news of his death was unexpected and deeply saddening.

Born and raised in New York City, Ron attended public schools, and spent time in a gang. Later, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Columbia University and embarked on a career of working with at-risk youth. At Columbia, Ron taught, counseled, and designed self-esteem building projects for students through Upward Bound. He also founded and directed the Harlem Institute of Positive Education.

Ron is perhaps best known for his Ten Step Rites of Passage program. He developed the training in the mid-1980’s when he came to Los Angeles to design and direct a program for teenage fathers. Rites of Passage-now widely used by schools, community organizations, and faith communities-helps teenage boys develop skills needed to achieve a sense of manhood and mature into productive adults.

The National Family Life and Education Center, which Ron founded in 1985, embodies his dedication to at-risk youth. Through the Los Angles County Department of Children’s Services, the Center runs a Rites of Passage program for teens in foster care. Ron’s non-profit center also has a transitional housing independent living program as well as a reading, literacy, and martial arts program. Martial arts was another of Ron’s passions; he held a fourth degree back belt in jujitsu.

In 1996, Ron published a curriculum based on the Rites of Passage program titled Visions: Career Guidance and Life Management for African American Men. A related activity guide came out in 1998. The curriculum, developed for and still used by the California State Department of Education, is targeted toward African American boys in grades 6 through 12.

A tireless presenter, Ron was a highly sought-after speaker for adoption, foster care, and youth-related conferences. Ron was, in fact, at a conference in Tennessee when he died. NACAC conference-goers from the past 12 years will remember Ron’s dynamic appearance as a keynote speaker at the 1990, 1991, 1994, 1999, and 2000 conferences, three on the east coat, and two in California.

Ron Johnson will long be remembered by an extended family of admirers and professionals for his seminal work with at-risk youth, and fervor for helping children. Ron was an unparalleled force in child welfare. We feel most fortunate to have called him our friend.