Jim Cantalupo, McDonald's Chief, Is Dead at 60

The New York Times ^ | April 19, 2004 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Lockbar]

I know this is in poor taste, but sometimes stories just call out for the use of an image many of us have seen before.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

I think you may on to something with the issue of stress.

If he had been hit by a car, we would all think this was tragic, but have very little else to say.

The fact that he was rich and successful (and generous as some have pointed) and inelligent enough to lead a healthy lifestyle (if he chose to) makes many wondered "what he did wrong".

Obviously there is no answer. Would this man have lived longer with a different job? And, would he have been happier? Perhaps he led the happiest possible life in the time that he had. Or, maybe he would have regretted spending so much time at the office if he had an opportunity to reflect.

Mortality checks help keep perspective about what is really important.

But, I think the other posters have said that as well.

[SuziQ]

And their French Fries- that I used to love- are horrible. What happened?

They stopped frying them in lard; they're done in vegetable oil now.

[Fred Hayek]

Jim Fixx had a family history of severe heart disease. IIRC, his brother died of a heart attack in his thirties, along with other heart related early deaths in his family. Jim Fixx's running may have in fact added a few years to his life.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Jim Cantalupo, McDonald's Chief, Is Dead at 60

Was it something he ate?

</GALLOWS HUMOR>

:-(

[Inyo-Mono]

Bob Swain's "Big Boy" chain of drive-thru restaurants introduced the double decker hamburger in the 1950s.

[aculeus]

From the NYTimes on line: Jim Cantalupo, McDonald's Chief, Is Dead at 60
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
According to company officials, Cantalupo died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack during the company's international owner and operator convention.

Those unexpected ones are the worst.

[Moonman62]

Jim Fixx's running may have in fact added a few years to his life.

It probably did. Of course, aspirin therapy and blood pressure medication if that was a problem could have extended it even longer.

[Thinkin' Gal]

"Unexpected" heart attack, translation: he didn't dine at the facilities.

Let's just hope he wasn't wasting good money on Nepalese astrologers.

[discostu]

Actually it probably will be good for McHell in the end. Under Cantalupo's guidance McDonalds has lost their way, they no longer focus on burgers, use staging cabinets that turn meat to leather, and have become pretty indistinguishable from Burger King. While every food business analyst has had the same piece of advice for McD to get its marketshare Cantalupo has done the exact opposite... and had the opposite of the desired effect.

Sorry to see him go, but for McD this is an opportunity to reverse a bad trend.

[Aquinasfan]

Control is an illusion

Yep. Keep your spiritual bags packed.

[dfwgator]

What is telling is that McDonalds latest ad campaign "I'm Lovin' It" is clearly targeting blacks. It's almost as if McDonalds is giving up on whites because whites are more concerned with health.

[connectthedots]

Fixx had a family history of chronic heart disease. Not much to be done with that.

[discostu]

It's 99% true. The old grease for french fries was vegetable oil but it had tallow (about 1%) for flavor. Then they decided having two different sets of oil (the fish, pies and chicken were all fried in pure vegetable oil) was too expensive so they got rid of the french fry oil, and now it all tastes lame. I don't think the PETA crowd had much to do with the decision, it happened during a time when they consolidated a lot of behind the scenes stuff for simplicity.

[discostu]

And they still aren't concentrating on their burgers. I don't think I've ever seen a company so thuroughly ignore the advice of of the experts. Comparing the restaraunt press with McD's actions the last 6 years has been hilarious.
Press: concentrate on your burgers
McD: New salads
Press: concentrate on your burgers
McD: new fry recipe
Press: concentrate on your burgers
McD: more stuff with chicken
Press: concentrate on your burgers
McD: more new salads
Press: concentrate on your burgers
McD: new breakfast items
Press: concentrate on your burgers
McD: look we have rap and break dancing in our commercials

Maybe they're going after blacks because white people eat burgers and McDs is in serious denial about the existance of burgers. Oh well, more proof that any company, no matter how powerful and well entrenched, can hose itself without any help from the competition.

[Eva]

Most of the sudden heart attacks in younger men seem to be due to undiagnosed, congenital heart defects, like John Candy and John Ritter. My husband is probably one of the most physically fit, health conscious, 56 year old men that you have ever seen, but he had a history several strokes that doctors were unable to explain. Then someone discovered a golf ball size whole in his heart that was covered by a flap, that opened periodicly and caused clots to form. New advances in diagnostic tests enabled doctors to figure out something that had stumped other doctors for twenty years since his first stroke.

[Irene Adler]

It seems to me that they also used to toast their buns on the grill, as well. They haven't done that for a number of years, now, and it detracts a surprising amount from the flavor of the final product, IMHO. I wish Wendy's would toast their buns, as well. It's the only thing I don't like about Wendy's burgers. Steak N' Shake does toast their buns, and it adds a lot to the taste. Their tiny, thin fries are very good, as well, but they do go cold pretty fast.

[In_25_words_or_less]

Bob Swain's "Big Boy" chain of drive-thru restaurants introduced the double decker hamburger in the 1950s.

Big Boy hamburger rights were acquired by other chains, hence the famous statue and hamburger showed up with various other names, like "Shoney's Big Boy" in the South.

[discostu]

They didn't toast them on the grill when I was there (late 80s early 90s... bad years) but they did toast them. Toasting the bun keeps it from getting as soggy and also makes the whole sandwich warm which makes it store better in the bin. I don't know if they dropped toasting when they went to staging cabinets, I'd escaped by then and my rule on the rare occasions when I eat fastfood is to never eat anything I made.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

It's the story of Jim Fixx,

It's the story of that PowerBar founder too. He ran like a dog and keeled over just like Foxx.

George Burns used to smoke 8 cigars a day and lived until 100. When your time is up, it's up.