Wallace “Wally” Amos, the founder of Famous Amos cookies, has died. He was 88.
Shawn and Sarah Amos, two of his children, said that he died in his Honolulu home on Tuesday, Aug. 13, due to complications of dementia, according to the New York Times. He is also survived by his two other children, Gregory and Michael, and his wife of 45 years, Christine Harris Amos.
PEOPLE reached out to his family and Famous Amos’ current owners, but did not immediately hear back.
Wally was born in Tallahassee in 1936 and moved to Harlem as an early teenager to live with his aunt, Della Bryant. He briefly left New York after dropping out of high school (he earned his G.E.D. shortly afterward) and joined the Air Force from 1954 through 1957.
Before becoming a cookie maverick, Wally worked his way up in a talent agency. He started in the mailroom at William Morris Agency in 1957 and became the first black talent agent in the industry, according to History. He signed then-unknown and eventual superstar acts Simon and Garfunkel and the Supremes.
Wally moved to the West Coast in 1967 to open his own agency and started baking on the side.
AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni
“I began to bake as a hobby; it was a kind of therapy,” Wally told the New York Times in 1975. “I’d go to meetings with record company or movie people and bring along some cookies, and pretty soon everybody was asking for them.”
It was with the financial help of musical legends Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy, who gave him $25,000 to get started, that Wally opened Famous Amos Cookie Company in a shop on Sunset Boulevard in 1975, according to a 1999 New York Times profile.
The cookies were known for their natural ingredients and for being preservative-free. The company made $300,000 in its first year and reached $12 million in revenue in its first five years. The one Los Angeles location grew into dozens of stores nationwide and packaged products being sold in grocery stores.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
With the popularity of his cookies, Wally’s name, smiling face and Panama hat became iconic. In 1986, President Reagan gave Wally one of the first Awards of Entrepreneurial Excellence.
After some financial troubles, Famous Amos was bought for $3 million in 1988. It is now owned by the Ferrero Group. Wally worked with the company on-and-off and came back as a spokesperson in 1999.
In selling the company, Wally lost the use of his name and his image. He sold baked goods under other names, like Uncle Noname, Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co., and the Cookie Kahuna.
Wally had a passions for reading and writing. In 1981, Wally also became the spokesman for the Literacy Volunteers of America, an organization focused on teaching adults to read. He eventually wrote several books, including The Cookie Never Crumbles cookbook and The Path to Success is Paved with Positive Thinking.
