Eddie Thomas

 

Edward Lee Thomas

 

In Memoriam

 

 

Founder of Big Ed's Hamburgers dies
 
By Associated Press
Published: 1/31/2009  10:16 AM
Last Modified: 1/31/2009  12:08 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY — Edward L. Thomas, the founder of the Big Ed's Hamburgers chain, has died. He was 66.

Thomas died Thursday in Oklahoma City of congestive heart failure, his daughter, Nicole Thomas, said.

Thomas opened his first hamburger joint in Oklahoma City in 1974, and over the next decade Big Ed's Hamburgers

became a household name across Oklahoma with 42 stores, as well as four stores in Kansas.

Best known for its 12-inch-diameter hamburger, free to anyone who could eat it in less than 45 minutes,

the business continued to grow until "Big Ed" sold the chain in 1996.

All that's left of the chain is a restaurant in a shopping center in north Oklahoma City, where owner

Cyrus Naheed still practices the principles he picked up from the original owner.

"He told me, 'You've got to build your customers one at a time and then just take care of them,'" Naheed said.

Funeral services will be at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Elijah Orthodox Church in Oklahoma City.