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William Lewis Rudolph (December 6, 1919 – December 28, 2014) was an American businessman who helped to co-found the Krispy Kreme doughnut company with his brother, Vernon Rudolph, during the 1930s.[1] He also helped open the first Krispy Kreme in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] Lewis Rudolph later served as Vice President of Krispy Kreme, while Vernon Rudolph served as president and CEO of the company.[2]
Lewis Rudolph was born on December 6, 1919, in Marshall County, Kentucky.[3] He was one of four children born to Rethie and Plumie Rudolph. His father, Plumie, operated a general store in Marshall County.[1]
In the early 1930s, Lewis Rudolph's uncle, Ishmael Armstrong, and his brother, Vernon, who was 18 years old at the time, began a yeast doughnut, based on a recipe they had received from a chef from New Orleans.[1] However, the economic downturn during the Great Depression caused financial difficulties for both Plumie Rudolph's general store and Vernon Rudolph's doughnut business.[1] The entire family relocated to Nashville to pursue better financial opportunities.[1] Lewis Rudolph's father, Plumie, soon purchased Ishmael Armstrong's doughnut business from him.[1]
Lewis Rudolph dropped out of high school to work at the family doughnut business.[1] He spent days mixing ingredients by hand. The doughnut shop proved successful and the family was able to expand to new shops in Charleston, West Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia.[1] In 1937, Vernon Rudolph established Krispy Kreme doughnuts at a new location in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[1] He had decided to open the first Krispy Kreme in Winston-Salem due to the presence of Camel cigarettes in the city.[1]
Lewis Rudolph married Jeanne Marie Fisher, a Nashville native, in 1937, the same year that his brother opened the first branded Krispy Kreme location in North Carolina.[1] The chain continued to expand throughout the 1940s. By the time Krispy Kreme was incorporated as a company in 1947, there were eight shops in the Southeast United States.[1] Lewis Rudolph became Vice President of Krispy Kreme, while Vernon served as president and CEO.[1]
Lewis Rudolph moved back to Nashville from Winston-Salem in 1959 in order to acquire the city's two Krispy Kreme locations.[1][4] He continued to work at Krispy Kreme for the next 48 years, until his retirement in 1985.[4] Rudolph opened two additional Krispy Kreme franchise locations in Nashville during the 1960s – one was located on Thompson Lane, while the other was located on West End Avenue.[1]
Vernon Rudolph, his brother and Krispy Kreme's founder, died in 1973. In 1976, Krispy Kreme merged with Beatrice Foods of Chicago.[1][2] By the early 1980s, sales at Krispy Kreme were in decline. In 1983, Lewis Rudolph, together with other franchisees, organized a buyout of the doughnut company.[1][2] Lewis Rudolph sold his Krispy Kreme shops to the company in 1983 and retired from the doughnut business in 1985.[2][4]
Lewis Rudolph died in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 28, 2014, at the age of 95.[1] He was survived his wife, Jeanne Fisher Rudolph, whom he married in 1937; four children, twelve grandchildren, twenty-two great-grandchildren and one great, great-grandchild.[1]
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