NYT: David Edgerton, a Founder of Burger King, Is Dead at 90

The New York Times has published an obituary for Burger King co-founder David R. Edgerton, who died on April 3 at the age of 90. Edgerton’s death had already been announced in a paid notice in The Miami Herald, but it was reported in few other national publications.

Edgerton co-founded the Burger King restaurant brand in 1954 before selling the company in 1967, just as the chain had started to establish a dominant market share, with 400 locations across twenty states. Edgerton and his co-founder James W. McLamore are credited with conceiving and naming what would become of the most iconic signature items in the restaurant industry, the Whopper.

According to Edgerton’s friend and accountant Betty Amos Righetti, the cause of Edgerton’s death was complications from surgery after a fall. Edgerton died in Miami, where he grew up and helped launch the Burger King chain.