Ray Kroc

Raymond Albert Kroc was born on October 5, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago, to Czech-American parents, Rose Mary (née Hrach) and Alois "Louis" Kroc. Alois was born in Horní Stupno, part of Břasy near Rokycany. Rose's father Vojtěch was from Ševětín and her maternal grandfather Josef Kotilínek was from Bořice. After emigrating to America, Alois made a fortune speculating on land during the 1920s, only to lose everything with the stock market crash in 1929.

At the age of 15, Kroc made the decision to leave high school, contrary to his parents' wishes. Following the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, he lied about his age in order to enlist with the American Red Cross as an ambulance driver. However, his service was short-lived, as the war concluded shortly after his enlistment. During the 1920s and throughout the Great Depression, Kroc worked a variety of jobs, including a paper-cup salesman, a real estate agent, and a pianist in multiple bands.

Family

Kroc met Ethel Fleming in 1919, married in 1922, and then moved to Chicago, divorcing in 1961. Together, they had Kroc's only child, daughter Marilyn. He married Jane Dobbins Green in 1963, divorcing her in 1968.

He married his third wife, Joan Smith (née Mansfield) in 1969. Joan Kroc was a philanthropist who significantly increased her charitable contributions after Ray Kroc's death. She donated to a variety of causes that interested her, such as the promotion of peace and preventing nuclear proliferation. Upon her death in 2003, her remaining $2.7 billion estate was distributed among a number of nonprofit organizations, including $1.5 billion donation to The Salvation Army to build 26 Kroc Centers, along with a $200 million donation to National Public Radio as she believed deeply in the power of public radio. In addition to that, she also donated to community centers serving socially deprived neighborhoods throughout the country.

Health

In 1980, following a stroke, Kroc entered an alcohol rehabilitation facility. He died four years later of heart failure at a hospital in San Diego on January 14, 1984, at the age of 81. He was buried at the El Camino Memorial Park in Sorrento Valley, San Diego.

Philanthropy and awards

The Kroc Foundation supported research, treatment and education about various medical conditions, such as alcoholism, diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. It is best known for establishing the Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit organization that provides free housing for parents close to medical facilities where their children are receiving treatment.

In 1973, Kroc received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

A lifelong Republican, Kroc believed firmly in self-reliance and staunchly opposed government welfare and the New Deal. Kroc donated $255,000 to the Richard Nixon 1972 presidential campaign, and he was controversially accused by some, notably Senator Harrison Williams, of making the donation to influence Nixon to veto a minimum wage bill making its way through Congress.