HONOLULU (AP) — Wallace “Wally” Amos, the creator of the cookie empire that took his name and made it famous, and who went on to become a children’s literacy advocate, has died. He was 88.

Amos created the Famous Amos cookie empire and eventually lost ownership of the company — as well as the rights to use the catchy Amos name. In his later years, he became a proprietor of a cookie shop called Chip & Cookie in Hawaii, where he moved in 1977.

He died Tuesday at his home in Honolulu, with his wife, Carol, at his side, his children said. He died from complications with dementia, they said.

“With his Panama hat, kazoo, and boundless optimism, Famous Amos was a great American success story, and a source of Black pride,” said a statement from his children, Sarah, Michael, Gregory and Shawn Amos.

They said their dad “inspired a generation of entrepreneurs when he founded the world’s first cookie store” in Los Angeles in 1975.

While Wally Amos was a great promoter, he struggled as a businessperson and eventually lost control of the company. He walked away from it because he didn’t want to just be its face, Sarah Amos said.

Wally Amos was also co-founder of Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co., whose products are found in stores nationwide.

Amos also was active in promoting reading. His Hawaii shop, for example, had a reading room with dozens of donated books, and Amos usually spent Saturdays sitting on a rocking chair, reading to children.