Samuel Truett Cathy Net Worth

What Was Samuel Truett Cathy's Net Worth?

Samuel Truett Cathy (also known as S. Truett Cathy) was an American entrepreneur and author who had a net worth of $6.6 billion at the time of his death in 2014. Samuel Truett Cathy earned his fortune as the founder of the Atlanta-based restaurant Chick-fil-A. After serving in World War II, Cathy opened his first chain of restaurants called Dwarf Grill (now known as Dwarf House) in 1946. In 1967, twenty-one years after launching Dwarf House, he launched his second fast-food restaurant, Chick-fil-A, in his hometown, Atlanta. Today the restaurant, which is known for its chicken entrees, has over 3,100 locations. In 2008, Truett launched another fast-food restaurant called Upscale Pizza in Fayetteville, Georgia.

A deeply religious man, Cathy extended his belief to his business. To this day, all of his restaurants are closed on Sundays. Outside of fast food, Truett published the books "It's Easier to Succeed Than to Fail" (1989), "Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People" (2002) "It's Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men" (2004), "How Did You Do It, Truett?: A Recipe for Success" (2007), and "Wealth, Is It Worth It?" (2010). On September 8, 2014, Chick-Fil-A confirmed that S. Truett Cathy had died at the age of 93 at his home in Clayton County, Georgia.

Early Life

Samuel Truett Cathy was born on March 14, 1921, in Eatonton, Georgia. He was the son of Joseph and Lilla Cathy, and he had a brother named Ben. Joseph was a farmer, but after boll weevils attacked the cotton fields, the farming business failed. The Cathy family subsequently moved to Atlanta, and Joseph began working as an insurance salesman. Truett attended Boys High School before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.

(JIM WATSON/AFP/GettyImages)

Career

In 1946, Cathy opened the Atlanta restaurant the Dwarf Grill, and there, he created what would became Chick-fil-A's signature sandwich with his brother/business partner Ben. From 1964 to 1967, that fried chicken sandwich was licensed to more than 50 eateries, such as Waffle House. When the first Chick-Fil-A opened at Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall in 1967, the sandwich was withdrawn from other restaurants. As of this writing, there are more than 3,100 Chick-Fil-A locations, and the chain has expanded outside of the U.S. to Canada, the U.K., and South Africa. In 2023, the chain's revenue was around $21.6 billion.

In April 2008, Truett opened a restaurant in Fayetteville, Georgia, called Upscale Pizza. In November 2013, he retired from his roles as CEO and chairman of Chick-fil-A, and his son Dan took over. Cathy was involved in a college football sponsorship deal that resulted in the Peach Bowl being called the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl from 1997 to 2005, the Chick-fil-A Bowl from 2006 to 2013, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl again since 2014.

S. Truett Cathy / Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images

Personal Life

Cathy and his wife, Jeannette McNeil, had three children, Don ("Bubba"), Trudy, and Dan, and fostered children for over 30 years. The couple remained married until Truett's death in 2014, and Jeannette died the following year. Cathy was a Sunday school teacher at the First Baptist Church of Jonesboro, Georgia, for more than five decades, and due to his religious beliefs, all Chick-fil-A locations are closed on Sundays so the employees can attend church. Truett established a scholarship program for the restaurant's employees, and it has awarded more than $190 million in scholarships since 1973.

Philanthropy

Over the decades, Cathy devoted countless hours of his personal time and millions of his own dollars to a variety of charities. He also served as a Sunday School teacher at his local Baptist church for more than 50 years. Most of his charitable work was focused on helping underprivileged children. In 1984, he established the WinShape Foundation (named after "shaping winners), which in addition to operating summer camps and developing foster homes, also operated programs that supported marriage counseling, the wilderness and college scholarships. His Chick-fil-A Leadership Scholarship program awarded over $23 million in grants to employees over the last 35 years. Over the last 30 years, the WinShape program has provided foster care for hundreds of kids. Today the program runs 11 foster homes in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Because of these philanthropic efforts, S. Truett Cathy has received dozens of awards and honors. In 2008, President George W. Bush bestowed Cathy the President's Call to Service Award.

Religious Views

Chick-fil-A has always been famous for not being open on Sundays to allow its employees a day of rest. In recent years, the company has come under fire over Cathy's personal religious views. Since 2003, Cathy's WinShape foundation has donated more than $5 million to anti-gay groups. In 2012, Cathy's son Dan told a newspaper called the Baptist Press that the company was "guilty as charged for backing the biblical definition of a family." Gay rights groups were up in arms over the statements and urged customers and other corporations to stop doing business with Chick-fil-A. Politicians in several American cities where Chick-fil-A was hoping to open new locations made it clear that the company was not welcome.

Death

On September 8, 2014, Cathy passed away from complications from diabetes at the age of 93. A public funeral took place two days later at Jonesboro's First Baptist Church, and Truett was laid to rest at Greenwood Cemetery.

Honors

In 2008, Cathy received the President's Call to Service Award from President George W. Bush. In 2013, the Georgia Historical Society named him a Georgia Trustee, an honor given to " Georgians whose accomplishments and community service reflect the highest ideals of the founding body of Trustees," the governing body that founded the colony of Georgia in the 1730s. Truett was a member of the National Leadership Honor Society Omicron Delta Kappa and the fraternities Delta Sigma Pi and Pi Kappa Alpha, and in 2009, Omicron Delta Kappa honored him with its Laurel Crowned Circle Award. He received the Horatio Alger Award, Norman Vincent and Ruth Stafford Peale Humanitarian Award, Boy Scouts of America Silver Buffalo Award, and William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership, and he was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Oglethorpe University in 1997 and an honorary doctorate of business from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2011, and Indiana Wesleyan University also inducted him into its Society of World Changers. In 2012, Cathy and Mitt Romney were awarded honorary doctorates at Liberty University's spring graduation ceremony, and Mitt stated, "The Romney campaign comes to a sudden stop when we spot a Chick-fil-A. Your chicken sandwiches were our comfort food through the primary season, and heaven knows there were days that we needed a lot of comfort."

Real Estate

In the 1980s, the Cathys bought a 7,210-square-foot vacation home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The home is known as The Lodge at Sugar Mill Golf & Country Club, and the family put the six-bedroom estate on the market for $2.5 million in 2015. The property includes a three-acre lake, two tennis courts, and a heated swimming pool.

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