Michael Quinlan, the former head of McDonald’s whose mailroom-to-boardroom success story laid the foundation for him to donate millions to his alma maters — Loyola University Chicago and Fenwick High School — died Sept. 22.
Mr. Quinlan, 80, had been in poor health and he died from natural causes, according to his son, Michael.
In 1963, when he was an underclassman on academic scholarship at Loyola, Mr. Quinlan’s roommate’s mother, June Martino, who was the secretary and bookkeeper for McDonald’s founder Ray Croc, helped get Mr. Quinlan a part-time job for $2 an hour in the mailroom at McDonald’s headquarters, then located at 221 N. LaSalle St.
He graduated in 1967 with degrees in history and psychology and, instead of attending law school at Yale University or University of Chicago, where he’d been accepted, he took on full time duties at McDonald’s in the purchasing department as he attended night classes at Loyola to earn a business degree.
“Fred Turner, who was McDonald’s CEO, saw something in Mike from an early age that he wanted to invest in and they put him in different areas of the company so he’d have good exposure to how it functions,” said Donna Currin, Mr. Quinlan’s former executive assistant.
Before advancing up the company chain, he worked in a McDonald’s restaurant, where he did everything from operating the fryer to cleaning windows and hosing down the parking lot, Curin said.
“That’s how Ray Croc was, too, he did it all, that’s what they expected of senior leaders, there’s no job too dirty for you,” Curin said.
In 1982, at the age of 37, Mr. Quinlan, known as “Q” to colleagues, became president of the company. In 1987 he succeeded Turner as CEO. In 1990 he was named McDonald’s chairman.
He passed the torch as CEO in 1998 and retired fully from McDonald’s when he stepped down from the board in 2002.
He was known for staying out of the spotlight and his hands-off management style.
His time at the helm was marked by international growth which kept Mr. Quinlan on the move.
He was in Moscow ahead of the first McDonald’s opening in what was then the Soviet Union, in 1990. Mr. Quinlan’s wife, Marilyn, who had vanity license plates that read “MCMUFFN,” accompanied him on the trip.
“I was begging to go but unfortunately I didn’t make the cut,” said Mr. Quinlan’s son, Michael Quinlan.
After working as CEO for a decade, McDonald’s sales more than doubled, to $32 billion from $14.3 billion and its restaurants multiplied to 22,000 from 9,911, extending its reach from 47 countries to 106, according to a Wall Street Journal story published in 1997.
“Expansion, he really pushed that button, not only around the world but in the U.S., too,” said Paul Schrage, former chief marketing officer at McDonald’s.
On Mr. Quinlan’s office wall at the company’s old headquarters in Oak Brook were words he espoused: “Never be satisfied.”
Two giant Rolodexes on his desk included contact information for celebrity sponsors such as Michael Jordan, as well as for Mr. Quinlan’s buddy Warren Buffet, a fan of McDonald’s breakfast. The two pals regularly exchanged letters that chided each other with respectful humor, Curin said.
“Mike was McDonald’s through and through,” Curin said.
“Every day no matter where in the world he was, I had to call him and tell him what the company stock closed at, and until the day he passed, it was one of the last things he asked, he really cared about the company and its success and legacy,” Curin said.
Following Mr. Quinlan’s death, McDonald’s current CEO, Chris Kempczinski, posted a message on LinkedIn that read, in part: “Let us honor his memory by continuing to lead with the same care, commitment, and courage that defined his remarkable journey.”
Mr. Quinlan, a dedicated golfer, raised his family in Oak Brook. Instead of sending Christmas cards, they’d send St. Patrick’s Day cards that featured photos of the family, and their dog.
Mr. Quinlan often pointed to Loyola University as a major key to his success and in 1999, after serving on the school’s baord, became board chair.
In 2004 he donated $10 million to the school to help build the Michael R. and Marilyn C. Quinlan Life Sciences Education and Research Center.
In 2012 he donated $40 million to the university’s business school, which was renamed in his honor.
“He said Loyola had given him more than he could ever give it,” his son said.
In 2019 he also donated $3 million to Fenwick to help the school build a new parking garage.
Mr. Quinlan was born Dec. 12, 1944, at Loretto Hospital to Robert and Jan Quinlan. He was a traveling salesman. She was a homemaker.
He grew up just in Oak Park near where the village borders the city of Chicago.
In addition to his son, Michael, Mr. Quinlan is survived by two grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Marilyn, Mr. Quinlan’s wife of 54 years died in 2020. His son Kevin, a former village president of Oak Brook, died in 2021.
Services have been held.