The last surviving co-founder of Bojangles’ has died

Richard B. Thomas, the last surviving co-founder passed away after a short illness Wednesday morning in Atlanta. Family members said he passed away peacefully with family by his side. He was 82.

Thomas worked with Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, and Colonel Sanders from KFC as a young man before he and his partner, Jack Fulk, founded Bojangles'.

Bojangles’ began in 1977 with a Cajun-style chicken restaurant opened by Fulk and Thomas at West Boulevard and South Tryon Street.

He also founded a restaurant in Atlanta, which was his current home, 31 years ago.

Thomas was also the grandfather of Richard Sheltra, the Pineville firefighter who died last April while fighting a fire at an Edwin Watts Golf store on Highway 51. The 21-year-old came from a family of firefighters. Both his mother and father were volunteer firefighters.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 10:11 AM with the headline "The last surviving co-founder of Bojangles’ has died."