Don Edmondson, a fast-food restaurant owner who championed architecture and a cancer research center for the state, died Tuesday at his home in Forrest City, said attorney and friend Frank Morledge.
Edmondson, 84, died of natural causes, Morledge said.
Friends described Edmondson as an outgoing personality, tireless in fundraising efforts and devoted to his community.
"He was a really smart guy, and his heart was in the right place," Morledge said.
In 2008, Edmondson agreed to give $10 million to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in the form of an estate and charitable trust gift. The gift from Edmondson and his wife, Ellen, directly led to UA renaming its architecture school in honor of Fay Jones, a renowned architect who became a close friend of the couple.
Jones designed the Edmondson House in Forrest City, where Don and Ellen hosted fundraising events to benefit what's now known as the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, a part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
"He was a very significant contributor to the cancer institute, not just giving money but giving time and his home," said Dr. Kent Westbrook, the center's inaugural director and a distinguished professor at UAMS.
The cancer research institute, which opened in 1989, relied heavily on private fundraising in its earliest years, Westbrook said.
"That first batch of money was absolutely critical," Westbrook said. Edmondson served for 24 years altogether on the cancer institute's board, said UAMS spokeswoman Leslie Taylor.
Don and Ellen Edmondson, who died last year, also gave $1.5 million to the cancer institute through an estate and charitable trust gift, Taylor said. Among other philanthropic gifts from the couple are a similar $1.5 million gift to Arkansas Children's hospital in Little Rock and other gifts over the years to UA and the university's Garvan Woodland Gardens, located in Hot Springs National Park.
As a philanthropist, Edmondson "was interested in things that would reach out and help the average people out in the state," Westbrook said, adding that "it's remarkable to see people who achieve a lot and still have that common touch."
Yet Edmondson also enjoyed first-class travel, said friend and business partner Dick Cahill.
"He was the life of the party," Cahill said.
Don and Ellen Edmondson would arrive "dressed to the nines," Cahill said. "He'd walk into a room and just light it up."
Don Edmondson was born July 19, 1935, in Memphis, according to a 2009 profile of Edmondson in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"He would tell you that he was from Black Fish, Ark.," Morledge said, describing a community that's barely a speck on maps today. Edmondson's father operated a motel and restaurant in the area, Morledge said.
After earning a bachelor's degree in business in 1958 from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Edmondson returned to run a Best Western hotel in Forrest City owned by the family, Morledge said.
With investors, Edmondson in the mid-1960s opened a Holiday Inn at a time when Interstate 40, which runs through Forrest City, was just being built, Morledge said.
The ownership investments blossomed from there, Morledge said. By 1971, Edmondson had shifted away from lodging and instead focused on restaurants.
Edmondson opened Kentucky Fried Chicken locations and found a business partner in Wallace Fowler, a member of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.
The partners owned more than 80 KFC restaurants at one point, Morledge said. Later, after a period of semi-retirement, Edmondson purchased Taco Bell restaurants, partnering with Cahill to open eateries in four states, Morledge said. About 10 years ago, Edmondson sold off his ownership in the Taco Bell locations, Morledge said.
In overseeing businesses through the decades, there were times "when people were not doing what they should do," Morledge said. Yet Edmondson "never had an unkind thing to say about them," Morledge said. "That was just his nature."
Peter MacKeith, dean of UA's Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, said in a statement that the Edmondsons' gift primarily went toward building renovations and construction. MacKeith said that after joining UA six years ago, he met with Don Edmondson many times and spoke with him by phone.
"Don expressed to me a love of the university based on its role in his personal and professional success, and in particular a love of Fay and Gus Jones and his architecture -- this began with an undergraduate lecture that Don attended given by Fay Jones on the value of architecture in a good life," MacKeith said.
In 2009, Edmondson was asked by the Democrat-Gazette for a phrase that summed him up.
"Extremely loyal and grateful," he said.
Metro on 04/29/2020