Ray Kroc: founder's philosophies remain at heart of McDonald's success

Nation's Restaurant News, April 11, 2005

"People who worked with McDonald's could come up with their families and use it. Not many people accepted the invitation at the time," Webb says. "Ray and [his wife] Joan were building their house at the ranch, and some weekends they would be there and we would spend the weekend basically with them. I was very junior at the time with the company."

Sometimes the Krocs' daughter and grandchildren would stay over, too.

"We would all spend the weekend there," Webb recalls fondly.

Later on, after Webb was transferred to Chicago in the late 1970s, Kroc would offer Webb and his family a lift on Kroc's private jet anytime Webb was traveling back and forth from California to Chicago.

"He would make sure Renee and I and our kids were on the plane," Webb says. "These were the kinds of things he did for people. I would tell you, beyond a doubt, that's the part of his character that made McDonald's great."

Joan Kroc also was an inspiration, with "just a giving heart and a giving spirit," Thompson notes.

"She was an absolutely phenomenal lady," he says. "You would never know she was as well-off as she was. But what she did with that..."

Webb pauses, noting Mrs. Kroc's philanthropic nature: "She didn't just give money from afar."

Thompson recalls going along with Joan Kroc for ribbon-cutting ceremonies for such humanitarian projects as a dance center and an indoor ice rink for a Boys and Girls Club in southern California.

"She [was] just a lovely lady," Thompson says. "So many people around the world have benefited from her spirit."

There was a bond between the way Joan Kroc and her husband approached the community, Thompson adds.

"I think part of Ray Kroc's legacy is also about our relationship with the community that we serve," Thompson says. "It was his idea that we have restaurants operated by franchisees who would not only be the local business owner, the local face of McDonald's, but also be connected to the community by giving back. It's not a surprise that Joan shared many of those same principles as Ray."

In his later years, Kroc, a lifelong baseball fan, became prominent in the world of Major League Baseball when he bought the San Diego Padres in 1974.

"He was proud that he could afford to buy the Padres," notes Webb, who recalls going to a Padres game with Kroc in 1974. On that day, however, Kroc was not very proud of his team's performance.

"The Padres were the doormat of the National League, and Ray could not stand to lose," Webb explains. And the team was losing badly. "In the middle of the game, he got on the P.A. system and apologized to the fans for the play of the Padres."

Webb adds that although Kroc was advancing in years, he still could be "feisty."

During his tenure, Kroc received several awards for his dedication to McDonald's Corp., including the Horatio Alger Award (1972), The Presidential Star (1972) and Lions International's American of the Year (1973).

Kroc died Jan.14, 1984, in San Diego.

He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1988.

Fortunately, for McDonald's Corp. and its legions of dedicated employees, suppliers and customers, the legacy that Kroc inspired lives on.