The death of Wallace Amos Jr., “Famous Amos,” has shocked the food world

On Tuesday, Wallace “Wally” Amos Jr., entrepreneur and founder of Famous Amos Cookies, died peacefully at his home in Honolulu, surrounded by his wife, Carol. “With his Panama hat, his kazoo and his boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story and a source of black pride,” his children said in a statement. The cause of death was complications related to dementia. Amos was 88 years old.

Amos was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and moved to New York at age 12. He dropped out of high school to join the Air Force, but eventually returned to New York to complete a business degree. After landing a job as a mail clerk at the William Morris Agency, Amos worked his way up to become the agency's first black talent agent.

Even before he became “Famous Amos,” Amos had a brief period of fame. The agency signed some of the biggest acts of the 1960s, including Simon and Garfunkel and The Supremes. His secret to success? The homemade cookies he brought to business meetings.

Eventually, Amos gave up the entertainment business. While friends urged him to open a cookie shop, Amos feared that a shop selling only chocolate chip cookies was doomed to failure. But the idea met with great enthusiasm. Customer Marvin Gaye contributed $25,000. Former colleagues helped him build an image that the New York Times described as “a Colonel Sanders of chocolate chip cookies.” In 1975, he opened a shop on Sunset Boulevard.

The cookies were a hit. Flavors were limited to chocolate chip with pecan, chocolate chip with peanut butter, and butterscotch chip with pecan, but customers didn't mind the lack of variety. By 1981, the company was worth $12 million. However, by the late '80s, sales were declining, and Amos sold the company for $3 million in 1988.

Wallace Amos admitted that fame had gone to his head. “I had lost the company because I wasn't listening to people as much anymore because I was the famous Amos,” he told the New York Times in 1999. With the company came the rights to his name and image – and the original recipe. In interviews, Amos frequently expressed his dislike for the reformulated, mass-market version. Amos tried several other ventures selling cookies and baked goods, with moderate success. He also found work as a motivational speaker, wrote several books, and advocated for literacy. In his later years, he moved to Hawaii, where he opened a modest cookie shop. There, Amos often read to local children.

Amos told NPR that love is part of his secret sauce.[The cookies] respond to it… they feel that love,” he said. Amos also revealed that he talked to his cookies – and when they were stubborn, he would give them a sound from his kazoo. Amos' family asked fans to donate to the Alzheimer's Association in his memory, adding, “We also know he would love if you had a chocolate chip cookie today.”