Harold’s Chicken CEO Kristen Pierce-Sherrod dies at 55

Kristen Pierce-Sherrod, the CEO of Harold’s Chicken Shack and co-founder of the Chicago Children Equestrian Center, has died, according to a statement released Wednesday by the chain and the therapy organization. She was 55.

“The family extends their sincere gratitude for the outpouring of prayers and condolences,” the statement said.

Mrs. Pierce-Sherrod was also the daughter of the chain’s founder Harold Pierce, who developed his restaurant chain’s logo of a hatchet-wielding man chasing a chicken after establishing it in 1950. He died in 1988, and she had carried her father’s legacy at the legendary chicken spot in the years since.

She helped usher in an era of national expansion for the chain.

Mrs. Pierce-Sherrod and her husband also co-founded the Chicago Children Equestrian Center after years of running community events and their recognition of the “empowering impact of equine experiences on low-income youths,” according to the group’s site.

Funeral arrangements will be released at a later date, the family said.