April 2004: McDonald’s CEO Jim Cantalupo dies of an unexpected heart attack.
November 22, 2004: McDonald’s CEO Charlie Bell steps down due to colon cancer.
Boy, this really makes me want to run out and get a Big Mac.
P.S. I’ve been to the McDonald’s HQ in Oak Brook, IL, and there is true McDonalds food in the cafeteria.
I don’t understand your point. Are you suggesting that Rick Wagoner Jr is in danger of being run over by a car?
Are you sure it’s not some kind of curse upon the CEO of McDonalds?
Well, I guess it could be a coincidence. And the older you get, the more likely health problems become.
However, it is pretty freaky that that this happens to two CEOs within a year. Yeah. Blame the cafeteria food!
I’d be surprised if the CEO eats cafeteria food very often.
No it isn’t. It’d be freaky if five of them died in succession of the same ailment, but that’s not what happened. Two executives is not a coincidence, especially since one died and the other hasn’t.
Tut, tut. You’re forgetting your James Bond: ‘Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action.’
Do McDonald’s CEOs actually eat McDonald’s food? I’d think that would be as likely as the president of Kia actually driving a Kia.
Who’s the new CEO?
This is the time a year that I make my list, and check it twice. Yep. Dead pool list making time is upon us.
Well, the execs may not be getting a #4 supersized every day. However, the food preparation in the cafeteria in the HQ is part of the “Hamburger University” training program. HU is about a mile away and where managers from all over the world come to learn the McD way. Part of that training is food prep, and the students also work in the HQ McDonalds. So I suspect the execs do eat there as a way of seeing and being seen by their managers.
Also, I worked in an association with one of their IT guys, and he did say the execs were seen eating in the cafeteria with the rest of the staff.
I just think it’s not particularly good PR – like Dave Thomas getting quad bypass surgery, or Jim Fixx dying out on a jog.
I suspect someone in McDonald’s with a known criminal record: Hamburglar!
Supersize Me indeed!
Mmmm… Big Macs are awesome. I want one right now.
This story tells me that if if I eat at McDonald’s…I can one day be head of a multinational corporation!
Pass the fries.
Og knows, we all did our best when I was working there.
The CEO of McDonald’s Japan, Den Fujita, also died this April of a heart attack two days after Cantalupo. I must admit, this is quite unusual!
Jim Skinner.