Colonel Harland Sanders
Background
Harland David Sanders was born in Henryville, Indiana, in 1890. He worked as a farmhand, streetcar conductor, railroad fireman, and insurance salesman before opening a roadside Shell service station in Corbin, Kentucky.
Role at KFC
Colonel Harland Sanders was the legendary founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1930, Sanders began cooking fried chicken for highway travelers in Corbin, Kentucky, pioneering commercial pressure frying in 1939. After losing his business to an interstate highway reroute at age 65, Sanders drove across America franchising his recipe for 4 cents per chicken, building KFC into an international household brand. Sanders sold KFC in 1964 for $2 million while remaining the lifetime global brand ambassador, maintaining strict standards for food quality until his death in 1980.