The life and death of Tom Carvel:
Was he murdered?
On what would be the final weekend of his life, Tom Carvel drove to his country home in upstate New York, deeply depressed. He'd built a namesake national chain of 850 ice cream shops, developing some of the fast-food and franchising concepts that changed how America eats. His sandpaper-voiced pitches in commercials -- "Thinny-Thin for your fatty-fat friends," he said in one spot -- had made Carvel a household name. He golfed with Bob Hope and did a guest turn on Late Night With David Letterman. He had recently sold his chain for $80 million, but he held on to a 100-room motel, 40 properties leased to Carvel franchisees, and a golf course in Dutchess County, New York. At 84, Carvel still was going to work every day.
But there were deepening problems inside his empire. Carvel confided to an associate that he no longer trusted Mildred Arcadipane, his corporate secretary of 38 years, or Robert Davis, his longtime lawyer and close financial adviser. Carvel had come to believe that they were scheming behind his back, maybe stealing from him. After agonizing for months, he arrived at his country home on Saturday determined to march into his office on Monday and fire his lawyer and relieve his secretary -- a mercurial woman, according to many who knew her -- of her considerable power.
But Carvel never got the chance. He was found dead in his bed that Sunday morning in 1990, the victim, it appeared, of a heart attack. Instead of being dismissed and demoted, Davis and Arcadipane returned to work and began to take command of Carvel's business and personal finances. The Carvel estate, officially valued at $67 million, spurred what one lawyer calls a "feeding frenzy"; nearly 18 years later, a bitter fight rages on. In most estate battles, family members square off against one another. But the principal fault lines in this case have put Davis, Arcadipane, and the multimillion-dollar charity that Carvel left behind on one side, and Carvel's widow, Agnes, and his niece Pamela Carvel on the other. The Carvels had no children, and Agnes "was frozen out of everything," Pamela contends. "She was denied millions that Tom wanted her to receive."
In 2007, after years of digging by private investigators in Pamela's employ, the case took a bizarre turn. Pamela filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, alleging that Carvel's death resulted in "fraudsters... controlling all Carvel funds to the exclusion of the Carvels." She asked that her uncle's body be exhumed for an autopsy to determine if he was murdered as part of the alleged scheme. The petition concludes with a question: "Will the truth finally be known?" And with that, one of the most contested estate fights in New York history also became a murder mystery.
Pamela says she has circumstantial evidence against several former Carvel employees, but a great deal of her ire over the years has been aimed at Davis and Arcadipane, who not only continued to work for the company but also battled Agnes for years over the Carvel fortune from their seats on the Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation board -- seats they gained through a document whose validity has been called into question. Both eventually were forced to resign from the board for misappropriating foundation money. Their families and lawyers scoff at any notion that they would ever have harmed Tom Carvel, but even if they had, neither will face justice. They are dead.
Tom Carvel was the personification of the American dream. Once known as the “patriarch of the world’s biggest mom and pop ice cream parlor,” he was a man who wasn’t afraid of hard work and did what it took to make his “rags to riches” story come true. He had an engaging manner, twinkling blue eyes, neatly trimmed handlebar mustache, and a friendly face. But he was a tough and honest businessman who demanded only the best from those who worked with him.
Thomas A. Carvelas (1906-1990) was brought to the United States as a child from his native Greece. At the age of 26, after a variety of careers that ranged from a drummer in a Dixieland band to an auto test driver for Studebakers, Carvel was incorrectly diagnosed with fatal tuberculosis and fled to the country air of Westchester, New York.
Borrowing $15 from his future wife Agnes, Tom began selling ice cream from his battered truck. Memorial Day weekend of 1934, Tom’s truck suffered a flat tire so he pulled his trailer into a parking lot next to a pottery store and began selling his melting ice cream to vacationers driving by. Within two days, Tom had sold his entire supply of ice cream, and realized that he could make a lot more money working from a fixed location. The generous potter allowed Tom to hook into his store’s electricity, and Tom opened for business. Two years later, Tom bought the pottery store, converted it into a roadside stand, and permanently establish himself as the first retailer to develop and market soft ice cream.
With the coming of World War II, Carvel was sent to Fort Bragg, N.C., where he served as a refrigeration consultant and concessionaire. This experience allowed Carvel to improve his ice cream freezer and team it with a specially formulated liquid ice cream made with the freshest ingredients to create the high quality product we know today.
As Carvel began selling his patented machinery to other stores, he quickly realized that he could sell not only his machinery, but his expertise as well. For a flat fee and a percentage of the profits, Carvel began teaching independent storeowners the ropes and allowed them to market ice cream under the Carvel name. In 1947, Carvel cultivated this relatively unknown idea called franchising, and opened 25 stores by the early 1950’s.
Often referred to as the “father of franchising,” many of Carvel’s marketing concepts have been emulated not only in franchising, but in almost every industry. Perhaps he is most famous for his voice as heard in many unrehearsed television and radio spots. Advertising historians agree this voice, once described as a cross between the marble-mouthed gravel of Marlon Brando’s character in the Godfather and the lovable, cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz, was key to both the growth of the company as well as the brand’s loyal following. The ads attained him regional celebrity status and his golfing buddies included Bob Hope, Perry Como and Jackie Gleason. Even with his celebrity status, Tom Carvel remained down-to-earth, personable and ultimately became one of our country’s most beloved icons, representing the all-American dream with the most all-American of foods.
