McDonald's this afternoon named Charlie Bell to take over as president and chief executive of the fast-food giant following the death of Jim Cantalupo earlier in the day.
The company's Chairman and Chief Executive Cantalupo, who helped turned the company around with a focus on better food and service, died today of an apparent heart attack.
Cantalupo, 60, died in Orlando, Florida, where he was attending a McDonald's meeting for its restaurant owners and operators.
Cantalupo, a former vice chairman and president of the company, was brought back to lead McDonald's in January 2003, when the company was struggling to cope with falling profit in a saturated hamburger market, outbreaks of mad cow disease and poor service.
In little over a year, he had helped turn the company around with a focus on improving operations and menu offerings. New items like entree-sized salads and all-white-meat chicken nuggets helped McDonald's post the highest sales gain in 30 years at US restaurants open more than a year in February.
