HONOLULU — Wallace “Wally” Amos, the creator of the cookie empire that took his name and made it famous and who went on to become a children’s literacy advocate, has died. He was 88. Amos created the Famous Amos cookie empire and eventually lost ownership of the company - as well as the rights to use the catchy Amos name.
In his later years, he became a proprietor of a cookie shop called Chip & Cookie in Hawaii, where he moved in 1977. He died Tuesday at his home in Honolulu, with his wife, Carol, at his side, his children said. He died from complications with dementia, they said.
“With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride,” said a statement from his children, Sarah, Michael, Gregory and . They said their dad “inspired a generation of entrepreneurs when he founded the world’s first cookie store” on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1975. Wally Amos was also co-founder of Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co.
, whose products are found in stores nationwide. But Amos said the fame never really mattered much to him. “Being famous is highly overrated anyway,” Amos told The Associated Press in 2007.
His muffin company, based in Shirley, N.Y., was originally founded as Uncle Noname Cookie Co.
in 1992, a few years after Amos lost Famous Amos, which still widely uses his name on its products. Amos had said the Famous Amos cookies sold today are unlike his cookies, which had lots of chocolate, .