| Celebrated Name: | Colonel Sanders |
|---|---|
| Real Name/Full Name: | Colonel Harland David Sanders |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age at the time of death: | 90 years old |
| Birth Date: | 9 September 1890 |
| Date of Death: | 16 December 1980 |
| Birth Place: | Henryville, Indiana, United States |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 1.78 m |
| Weight: | 85 kg |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Wife/Spouse (Name): | Claudia Price (m. 1948–1980), Josephine King (m. 1909–1947) |
| Children: | Yes (Mildred Sanders Ruggles, Margaret Sanders, Harland Sanders, Jr.) |
| Dating/Girlfriend (Name): |
N/A |
| Profession: | Businessman |
| Net Worth in 2024: | $3.5 million |
| Last Updated: | January 2024 |
Colonel Sanders was a popular businessman from America who was best known as the founder of the fast-food chicken restaurant chain KFC, i.e., Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was the brand ambassador of the company, and his name and image are still symbols of the company.
Maybe you know about Colonel Sanders very well, But do you know how old was he at the time of his death and what is his net worth in 2024? If you do not know, We have prepared this article about details of Colonel Sanders’s short biography-wiki, career, professional life, personal life, today’s net worth, age, height, weight, and more facts. Well, if you’re ready, let’s start.
Early Life & Biography
Colonel Harland David Sanders was born September 9, 1890, in Henryville, Indiana, U.S. in a four-room house to his parents Wilbur David and Margaret Ann (née Dunlevy) Sanders. He had two siblings, and his mother was of Irish and Dutch descent.
Sanders’s father worked on an 80-acre farm until he broke his leg. Later, he worked as a butcher while his mother was strict and a devout Christian. When Sander was five years old, his father died, and his mother had to work in a tomato cannery. At the age of ten, he started working as a farmhand. Three years later, Sanders left his home and did various odd jobs.
Personal Life
Sanders married his first wife, Josephine King, in 1909. Together they were the parents of a son named Harland who died in 1932 due to infected tonsils. They also have two daughters Margaret Sanders and Mildred Sanders Ruggles. The couple divorced in 1947. The following year Sanders married Claudia Price.
In 1980, Sanders was diagnosed with acute leukaemia. On December 16, 1980, he died in Louisville, Kentucky, at Jewish Hospital. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral service.
Age, Height, and Weight
Being born on 9 September 1890, Colonel Sanders was 90 years old at the time of his death. His height was 1.78 m tall and weighed 85 kg.
Career
Colonel Sanders started his career at a very young age doing various odd jobs. In 1906, he secured a job as a conductor in New Albany, Indiana. He also served the United States Army for a brief period as a wagoner in Cuba. By the age of 16, he worked as a blacksmith, fireman, and also cleaned the ash pans of trains.
In 1910, he got a labouring job with the Norfolk and Western Railway, where he met his first wife. Later he moved back with his mother to Henryville, where he did various recurring works, including a laborer, insurance agent, and sales job. In 1920, Sanders founded a ferry boat company, which was an instant success. At the same time, he got the job as a secretary at the Chamber of Commerce in Columbus, Indiana.
Sanders sold his ferry company for $22,000 and founded another company that manufactured acetylene lamps. In 1930, he was offered a service station in Kentucky by the Shell Oil Company. Sanders started serving chicken dishes and other meals. Later, his popularity grew and was named as a Kentucky colonel by then-governor Ruby Laffon.
In 1952, Sanders gave his secret “Kentucky Fried Chicken” recipe to some of the city’s largest restaurants. Within the first year, the sales from the fried chicken tripled. Later, several other restaurant owners franchised the concept and paid him a reasonable price for the recipe.
In 1959, along with his wife, Sanders opened the restaurant and company headquarters in Shelbyville. Within a few months, KFC became one of the first food chains to expand internationally, including Canada, Jamaica, the UK, and Mexico. In 1962, he obtained a patent for his recipe, and the following year trademarked the phrase “It’s Finger-Lickin’ Good.”
Awards & Achievements
In 1965, Colonel Sanders was given the Horatio Alger Award. In 1976, he was named the world’s second most recognizable celebrity.
Sanders was the company’s symbol, brand ambassador, and filmed many TV commercials and appearances. He has been voiced in radio ads from 1998 to 2001 by voice actor Randy Quaid in television commercials.
In 2016, comedian Rob Riggle portrayed his character in an advertisement in which he introduced a football team named “The Kentucky Buckets.” The following year, WWE made Sanders as a playable character in their video game WWE 2K18.
Net Worth & Salary of Colonel Sanders in 2024
Colonel Sanders had an estimated net worth of more than $3.5 million at the time of his death. He made this huge fortune through his career as a successful businessman.
He founded several companies, including a ferry boat company, acetylene lamp manufacturing company, among others. However, his most successful company is the Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC, which had 6,000 KFC outlets in 48 countries worldwide at the time of his death.
In 1964, Sanders sold KFC for $2 billion and became a salaried brand ambassador. He also earned a huge sum of money by appearing in television commercials, advertisements, and business events.
Colonel Sanders is one of the most legendary and successful businessmen to have ever lived. He was born in a low-income family and struggled most of his life doing various odd jobs. However, he did not give up on his multiple failures and bounced back to establish one of the largest fast-food chains in the world.