Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and employees of Jim Carroll. Jim passed away yesterday evening, after a valiant battle against cancer.
Jim started with our companies in the late 1970s, when we were still Burger Queen Enterprises, stayed with us after the rebrand to Druther’s, and rose to become Executive Vice President of Druther’s International. He then moved on to become a multi-unit joint venture partner with us after the Dairy Queen conversion, then transitioned to a multi-unit joint venture partner of the newly-created Dairy Queen Corporate Stores division of American Dairy Queen in the mid-1990s.
Years later, in 2010, upon the dissolution of Dairy Queen Corporate Stores, Jim once again became one of our Druther’s DQ joint venture partners in Louisville at Taylor Boulevard and in Fairdale. In his final years, he was our joint venture partner and co-owner of the Dairy Queen in Fairdale, Kentucky.
Jim was extremely active philanthropically in Louisville and in Fairdale via his Burger Queen, Druther’s, and later Dairy Queen restaurants. He loved sailing. He was a friend and mentor. He will be missed.
-Robert Gatewood and Brian J. Easley