Hasta La Creative!

Former McDonald’s CEO and Honorary Chairman Fred Turner died Monday from complications from pneumonia, the company announced. He was 80.

Mr. Turner became president-chief administrative officer in 1968 and was named McDonald’s president-CEO in 1974. He was chairman-CEO from 1977 to 1987. He remained chairman until 1990, and senior chairman until 2004 when he retired and became honorary chairman.

Mr. Turner was in top posts during a time when McDonald’s was on a massive and unprecedented expansion course. He is lauded as the architect of the chain’s “quality, service, cleanliness” operations model — one that led the chain to be seen as an innovator in operations and that helped the Golden Arches grow to be the biggest restaurant chain in the world. McDonald’s grew both domestically and internationally under Mr. Turner’s eye, and it more than tripled its store count alone during his tenure as CEO. Also during his tenure, the number of locations not only grew exponentially, but so did the company’s marketing budget.

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