{"id":11432,"date":"2017-04-27T23:42:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/waffle-house-founders-die-less-than-2-months-apart\/"},"modified":"2017-04-27T23:42:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T07:42:00","slug":"waffle-house-founders-die-less-than-2-months-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/waffle-house-founders-die-less-than-2-months-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Waffle House Founders Die Less Than 2 Months Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Doreen McCallister<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Waffle House founders Joe Rogers, center, and Tom Forkner, right, greet long time customer John Webb as they stop for a meal at a Waffle House restaurant in Norcross, Ga., in 2005.<\/p>\n

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Ric Feld\/AP<\/p>\n

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Ric Feld\/AP<\/p>\n

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In 1949, Thomas Forkner Sr. was in the real estate business when he helped Joe Rogers Sr. buy a house.<\/p>\n

Rogers was working for the Toddle House restaurant chain and he convinced Forkner to join him in starting their own restaurant.<\/p>\n

The two opened the first 24-hour Waffle House on Labor Day in 1955 in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates.<\/p>\n

By the time they sold the business in the late 1970s, the chain had grown to 400 restaurants.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta-based company that owns the chain now has more than 1,500 locations.<\/p>\n

Waffle House said in a statement that Forkner died Wednesday at age 98.<\/p>\n

Rogers died March 3<\/a>, seven weeks before Forkner. Rogers was 97.<\/p>\n

On March 4, Forkner’s wife of 71 years, Martha, died. They got married 90 days after dating, according to Forkner’s obituary.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press reports:<\/p>\n

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“Forkner was known to drop by the company headquarters regularly, up until a few weeks before his death.<\/p>\n

“He would often drive there to have lunch with new manager trainees, said Waffle House Chairman Joe Rogers Jr., whose father started the company with Forkner.<\/p>\n

” ‘Tom and my father had a handshake deal, and their partnership and friendship continued for more than 60 years,’ Joe Rogers said in a statement.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n