Wally Amos Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Wally Amos
OCCUPATION: Entrepreneur
BIRTH DATE: July 01, 1936 (Age: 76)
EDUCATION: Food Trades Vocational High School
PLACE OF BIRTH: Tallahassee, Florida
Full Name: Wallace Amos Jr.
AKA: Wallace Amos
AKA: Wally Amos Jr.
ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer

Best Known For

African-American entrepreneur Wally Amos founded the Famous Amos cookie brand. He also worked as a talent agent and discovered Simon & Garfunkel.

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Wally Amos

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Wally Amos. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:07, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382.

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Wally Amos. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382 [Accessed 23 May 2013].

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"Wally Amos," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382 [accessed May 23, 2013].

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"Wally Amos," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382 (accessed May 23, 2013).

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Wally Amos [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382.

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Wally Amos, http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382 (last visited May 23, 2013).

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Wally Amos. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/wally-amos-9542382. Accessed May 23, 2013.

In 1998, the Keebler Company purchased the Famous Amos brand, and Amos resumed his role as the brand's spokesperson.

Recent Projects

In the mid-1990s, Amos worked with partners, including Famous Amos distributor Lou Avignone, to launch a muffin company now known as Uncle Wally's Family of Muffins. The company produces various homemade-style and healthy muffins. Amos also started a new cookie company, called Chip & Cookie—the "only company baking from pure, unadulterated Wally Amos recipes," according to Amos's website.

Out side of his entrepreneurial work, Amos travels as a motivational speaker, advocating for ending illiteracy in the United States and working with organizations like Read to Me International and the YMCA.

"I encourage parents to read aloud to children at least from birth to 6 years old. I’d really like them to do it beforehand while they’re in the womb," Amos said in a MidWeek interview.

Additionally, he has written 10 books, including an inspirational work entitled Watermelon Credo: The Book. According to Amos, his success as an author and a motivational speaker is due in no small part to his Aunt Della: "[Aunt Della's] basic recipe for cookies became the foundation for much of my success. But it was her recipes for life that sustain me to this day," he states on his website.

Personal Life

Amos has three sons from his first two marriages, Shawn, Michael and Gregory. He also has a daughter named Sarah with his third wife, Christine Harris. The family currently resides in Hawaii.