In Passing

Fullerton, Calif.

Carl N. Karcher, fast-food magnate

Carl N. Karcher, who parlayed a $325 investment in a hot-dog cart into one of the largest hamburger chains in the West, died Friday. He was 90.

The founder of the Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain had Parkinson’s disease and was being treated for pneumonia when he died at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.

Karcher, a deeply religious father of 12, was famous in the fast-food industry for his rags-to-riches story – a tale that was tainted in later years by an insider trading scandal and feuds with his board of directors that led to his eventual demise as chief executive officer.

Karcher was working as a bread-truck driver in South Los Angeles when he noticed the large number of hot dog stands in the neighborhood and saw a business opportunity. He borrowed $311 on the 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe he owned with his new bride, Margaret, added the rest in cash and bought his first pushcart hot dog stand.

One cart soon became four, and by the end of World War II Karcher had opened his first restaurant, Carl’s Drive-In barbecue, in Anaheim. He opened the first Carl’s Jr. – named “Jr.” to distinguish it from his full-service eatery – in 1956.

Today, Carl’s Jr. has more than 1,000 locations across the West; its parent company, CKE Restaurants Inc., posted $1.52 billion in sales in 2006 and had 29,000 employees. CKE also owns the Hardee’s, La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill and Green Burrito chains.

Washington

Philip Agee, CIA figure

Philip Agee, a former undercover officer with the Central Intelligence Agency whose disillusionment with American policy in support of dictatorial regimes prompted him to name names and reveal CIA secrets, died Monday in Havana. He was 72.

His wife, Giselle Roberge Agee, told the Associated Press that Agee was hospitalized in Havana on Dec. 16 and underwent surgery for perforated ulcers. His death, she said, was the result of a related infection. He had lived primarily in Hamburg, Germany, but kept an apartment in Havana, she said.

In his controversial 1975 book, “Inside the Company: CIA Diary,” Agee detailed the inner workings of U.S. intelligence operations around the world.

The CIA, he charged, was interested only in propping up decaying dictatorships and thwarting radical reform efforts. Published in 20 languages, the book also included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Prompted in large part by Agee’s book, Congress in 1982 passed the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, making it illegal to knowingly divulge the identity of covert CIA officers.

Former President George H.W. Bush, who directed the CIA in 1976-77, accused Agee of identifying Richard Welch, the CIA chief in Athens who had been assassinated by Greek terrorists in December 1975.

Bush maintained in 1989 that by publicly identifying Welch, Agee was responsible for his death.