What is Fred Turner's Net Worth?
Fred Turner was an American restaurant industry executive who had a net worth of $150 million at the time of his death in 2013. He was best known for being the CEO of McDonald's. He succeeded legendary McDonald's CEO/founder Ray Kroc. He was also the co-founder of the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Fred Turner was born in Des Moines, Iowa in January 1933 and passed away in January 2013. He graduated from Drake University and served in the United States Army. Turner started working at McDonald's as a grill operator in 1956. By 1958 he was the Operations Vice President of the company and established strict guidelines for how hamburgers and other foods were served including French fries that had to be precisely 0.28 inches thick. Turner established the motto "Quality, Service, and Cleanliness". In 1967 he became Executive Vice President and in 1968 he became President and Chief Administrative Officer. Fred Turner became McDonald's CEO in 1973 and replaced Ray Kroc as Chairman in 1977.
(Photo by Scott Whitehair/Fairfax Media via Getty Images).
In 1961 Fred founded what would later be known as "Hamburger University" in the basement of a restaurant location in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Fast forward to the present and more than 5,000 owners and managers attend Hamburger University at a sprawling suburban Illinois campus each year. Hamburger University is formally held in the Fred L. Turner Training Center in Illinois, but has branches around the world.
The year before Fred retired in 2003, an SEC filing showed that he owned 1.5 million shares of company stock which at that time had a value of around $22 million. The stock exploded over the next decade. Assuming he held on to his entire stake, Fred's shares would have been worth around $150 million on the day he died. Fred Turner passed away on January 7, 2013 at 80 years old.
