.
Besides Shoney's, Mr. Danner also helped to start businesses such as the Captain D's seafood chain, which once was part of Shoney's; car dealership Neill-Sandler and investment firm Lee, Danner & Bass.
Through The Danner Co., he continued to own restaurants, including some Nashville-area locations of Davy Crockett's Roadhouse and fast-food chain Wendy's. "Those investments will be going through a period of transition depending on what the family wants to do," Guess said.
Mr. Danner was also known for his philanthropy, including charitable giving through the Danner Foundation. He was a founding donor of the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, honorary chairman of the Sara Lee Classic and member of the boards of trust for Middle Tennessee State University and Franklin Road Academy.
Survivors include his wife, Judith Boyer Danner; two daughters, Donna Danner Wilson and Gail Danner Greil; and two sons, Roger A. Danner and Raymond Louis Danner Jr.; and five grandsons.
Visitation with the family will be 4-7 p.m. Tuesday at 815 N. Curtiswood Lane in Nashville. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Danner family cemetery at Parkland Farm, 3071 U.S. 31 in Spring Hill.
In lieu of flowers, the Danner family requests that contributions be made to the Nashville State Community College Foundation.
Raymond L. Danner Sr. was a prominent Nashville businessman who built Shoney's and Captain D's into a large national restaurant chains and who was active in philanthropy.
Danner, who died in 2008 at the age of 83, was born in Louisville, Ky., and operated a variety of businesses, including a grocery store, a bowling alley and a drive-in theater before starting in restaurants.
Danner began his restaurant career in the Madison section of Nashville as a franchisee of the Big Boy chain. He grew his business and eventually merged it with a company owned by Alex Schoenbaum of Charleston, W.Va., namesake of Shoney's. Shoney's became one of the nation's leading casual dining chains, but fell on hard times after Danner left the company in 1989
.
Besides Shoney's, Mr. Danner also helped to start businesses such as the Captain D's seafood chain, which once was part of Shoney's; car dealership Neill-Sandler and investment firm Lee, Danner & Bass.
Through The Danner Co., he continued to own restaurants, including some Nashville-area locations of Davy Crockett's Roadhouse and fast-food chain Wendy's. "Those investments will be going through a period of transition depending on what the family wants to do," Guess said.
Mr. Danner was also known for his philanthropy, including charitable giving through the Danner Foundation. He was a founding donor of the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, honorary chairman of the Sara Lee Classic and member of the boards of trust for Middle Tennessee State University and Franklin Road Academy.
Survivors include his wife, Judith Boyer Danner; two daughters, Donna Danner Wilson and Gail Danner Greil; and two sons, Roger A. Danner and Raymond Louis Danner Jr.; and five grandsons.
Visitation with the family will be 4-7 p.m. Tuesday at 815 N. Curtiswood Lane in Nashville. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Danner family cemetery at Parkland Farm, 3071 U.S. 31 in Spring Hill.
In lieu of flowers, the Danner family requests that contributions be made to the Nashville State Community College Foundation.
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