By Cynthia Charlene Greason
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Wallace Amos Jr. (July 1, 1936 – August 13, 2024) was an American television personality, businessman and author. He was the founder of the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie, the Cookie Kahuna, and Aunt Della’s Cookies gourmet cookie brands, and he was the host of the adult reading program Learn to Read.
CAREER
Returning to New York City, Amos took classes to become a secretary, and took a mailroom clerk job with the William Morris Agency Eventually, he became the agency’s first African American talent agent. He signed Simon & Garfunkel and headed the agency’s rock ‘n’ roll department. Amos attracted clients by sending them chocolate chip cookies along with an invitation to visit him. The musicians he represented included The Temptations and Marvin Gaye.
In 1975, a friend suggested to Amos that he set up a store to sell his cookies, and in March of that year, the first Famous Amos cookie store opened in Los Angeles, California. He started the business with the help of a $25,000 loan from Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy. The company began to expand, and eventually, Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies could be found on supermarket shelves across the United States. He became such a known figure culturally that he appeared as himself in the Taxi episode “Latka’s Cookies”, in 1981. Thanks in part to the success of his cookie company, he was hired to deliver speeches. He wrote several books, many of which have a self-help theme, including The Cookie Never Crumbles and The Power in You.
Amos died due to complications from dementia at his home in Honolulu on August 13, 2024, at the age of 88.
