Fred DeLuca

Family friend Peter Buck fronted DeLuca $1,000 to open Pete's Super Submarines 1965. Shop tanked; DeLuca opened a second outlet to give illusion of success. Sold first franchise 1974. Today there are 29,835 Subways across the globe; company is the fourth-largest fast food concern in the world, with sales exceeding $11 billion in 2007. Became famous through infamous commercials boasting that Jared lost 245 pounds eating only Subway sandwiches. Subway now offered in 87 countries. Frederick DeLuca was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 3, 1947, to Salvatore and Carmela Ombres DeLuca. His father was a factory worker, and Frederick spent part of his childhood in the Bronx. The family moved upstate to the Schenectady area when he was 10, and moved again a few years later to Bridgeport, where he graduated from Central High School in 1965. Mr. DeLuca’s wife, Elisabeth, whom he married in 1966, later worked at Subway’s corporate headquarters. They had one son, John. Survivors include his wife, his son and his sister.