By the way, here's a web page that discusses the life – and early death at 63 – of another proponent of healthy living, Dr. Jim Corea. He was a physician and radio talk-show host in the Philadelphia, PA area and, for over 20 years, broadcast advice about health and fitness that he also lived by. WWDB-FM Message Forum – Detailed News on Jim Corea

An excerpt from this message board reads: "The immediate cause of Jim Corea's death was a heart attack, more specifically, congestive heart failure. The long-term cause was heart disease.
"So why did Dr. Jim, this seeming paragon of healthy living, die so young? Barbara [his widow] offered this: 'Jim's dad died in bed at 36, we're pretty sure of a heart attack. His grandfather died of a heart attack at 56, and his grandmother died of a heart attack at 64.'
"The latest thinking is that of all the cardiac risk factors, family history may be most important....
"Could it be that exercise killed Dr. Jim? That his heart, subjected to the stress of [weightlifting], just gave out?
"Barbara thinks not. 'It may have made him live a little longer. Just because this happened to him, I don't think that means that exercise and watching your diet isn't a good thing. My father smoked and drank his whole life and lived to be 82. People always want to compare. I just have to think it was in his genes.' "

So, by that account, Corea's wife agrees with kat that a healthy lifestyle might extend one's expected lifespan, but also points out that one's expected lifespan depends primarily on nature, not nurture. Again, because Dave Thomas was adopted, we have no way of knowing whether he outlived the lifespan of his blood relatives, or not. Therefore, any assumption that he did not is pure speculation that does a disservice to his many fine societal contributions.

Also, there is no reason to assume that the good things Thomas has done "[have] to be at the expense of our arteries," since his Wendy's restaurants do offer nutritional foods in addition to fried foods. One simply has to choose the good.... something that, on a philanthropic level, Thomas made it his life's work – and legacy – to do.