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Basketball Fan
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 Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 2:40 pm Post subject: Wally Amos, Famous Amos cookie creator, dies at 88 |
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https://www.foxla.com/news/wally-amos-famous-amos-cookie-creator-dies?taid=66bd290b6a02d900017f0f58&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter
| Quote: | Wally Amos, Famous Amos cookie creator, dies at 88: Reports
Wally Amos, a talent agent turned cookie master who transformed a single Los Angeles bakery into a national brand, has reportedly died. He was 88 years old.
His children, Shawn and Sarah Amos, confirmed his death to The New York Times and TMZ. They said he died of complications from dementia.
Amos was born in 1936 and served in the Air Force before joining the William Morris Agency, where he started in the mailroom and eventually worked his way up to being the music industry’s first black talent agent, according to the History Channel. He signed Simon and Garfunkel and worked with The Supremes, Diana Ross and other superstars.
In 1975, Amos was living in Los Angeles after a job there had backfired. He began baking cookies as a hobby to relieve stress. That same year, with his aunt’s recipe – and the help of celebrity investors like Marvin Gaye and Helen Reddy – Amos opened his first bakery on Sunset Boulevard.
Famous Amos was the talk of the town in Hollywood, with celebrities lining up to get the handmade cookies. Amos made $300,000 in revenue his first year in business. By 1981, the company was worth $12 million. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan gave Amos one of the first Awards of Entrepreneurial Excellence.
The monumental success proved to be short-lived: His son said Amos was a great marketer, but a not-so-great businessman who made some poor business decisions.
According to The New York Times, Amos sold off equity stakes through the 1980s, selling the remainder of his company to a private equity firm in 1988 for $3 million.
He would go on to try a few other cookie ventures before briefly coming on as a spokesperson for Keebler – which owned Famous Amos – in 1999.
In 2016, Amos appeared in an episode of "Shark Tank," the reality TV show in which entrepreneurs pitch ideas to five business moguls. He sought a $50,000 investment for 20% equity in his Hawaii-based company, Cookie Kahuna.
Amos didn’t get an investment, but he did see a spike in sales for a while. Cookie Kahuna went out of business in 2018.
Amos authored multiple books about his experiences. His son Shawn has said Amos was a big advocate for literacy. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush gave Amos a National Literacy Honors Award. |
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Dr. Laker
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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RIP - he mentored a family member of mine.
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Basketball Fan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Dr. Laker wrote: | | RIP - he mentored a family member of mine. |
Really? |
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DaMuleRules
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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RIP. My favorite cookies as a kid.
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HARRIS WALZ 2024 |
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LakerLanny
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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| DaMuleRules wrote: | | RIP. My favorite cookies as a kid. |
Me too, they were the first sort of "gourmet cookies" for the masses.
They were in all the supermarkets (in LA at least) and the cookies were damn good!
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Love, Laker Lanny |
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Cutheon
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Loved his cookies, easily my favorite |
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Dr. Laker
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Basketball Fan wrote: | | Dr. Laker wrote: | | RIP - he mentored a family member of mine. |
Really? |
Pre-cookies, Wally Amos was the first black talent agent at William Morris. My older sister was hired there a few years later and was one of the early black female agents. Wally showed her the ropes.
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DaMuleRules
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Dr. Laker wrote: | | Basketball Fan wrote: | | Dr. Laker wrote: | | RIP - he mentored a family member of mine. |
Really? |
Pre-cookies, Wally Amos was the first black talent agent at William Morris. My older sister was hired there a few years later and was one of the early black female agents. Wally showed her the ropes. |
That’s awesome all around!
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HARRIS WALZ 2024 |
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DaMuleRules
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| LakerLanny wrote: | | DaMuleRules wrote: | | RIP. My favorite cookies as a kid. |
Me too, they were the first sort of "gourmet cookies" for the masses.
They were in all the supermarkets (in LA at least) and the cookies were damn good! |
He had his own store in Hollywood where you could get fresh ones back in the day.
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HARRIS WALZ 2024 |
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Basketball Fan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2024 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Dr. Laker wrote: | | Basketball Fan wrote: | | Dr. Laker wrote: | | RIP - he mentored a family member of mine. |
Really? |
Pre-cookies, Wally Amos was the first black talent agent at William Morris. My older sister was hired there a few years later and was one of the early black female agents. Wally showed her the ropes. |
Cool thanks for sharing. I am surprised his life wasn’t made into a movie |
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TDRock
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| Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2024 11:41 am Post subject: |
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| Dr. Laker wrote: | | Basketball Fan wrote: | | Dr. Laker wrote: | | RIP - he mentored a family member of mine. |
Really? |
Pre-cookies, Wally Amos was the first black talent agent at William Morris. My older sister was hired there a few years later and was one of the early black female agents. Wally showed her the ropes. |
That's dope 
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#Welp |
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TDRock
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| Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2024 11:42 am Post subject: |
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| DaMuleRules wrote: | | LakerLanny wrote: | | DaMuleRules wrote: | | RIP. My favorite cookies as a kid. |
Me too, they were the first sort of "gourmet cookies" for the masses.
They were in all the supermarkets (in LA at least) and the cookies were damn good! |
He had his own store in Hollywood where you could get fresh ones back in the day. |
I was a kid and my brother and I used to beg my parents to take us up there periodically. So good!
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#Welp |
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