Businessman. He transformed a backyard egg business into one of the nation’s largest poultry processors using the folksy commercial slogan, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.” His TV commercial persona helped boost sales from $56 million in 1970 to more than $1.2 billion by 1991 when he turned the reins over to his son, Jim. Perdue’s father, Arthur W. Perdue, started the family business in 1920, raising chickens for eggs. Perdue and his father switched the business from eggs to chickens in the 1940s and broke into retail sales in 1968. Until the late 1990s, he was regularly ranked in Forbes’ list of 400 richest Americans. In 1997, it ranked him 214th and estimated his net worth at $825 million. (bio by: Ron Moody)  Family links:  Parents:  Arthur William Perdue (1885 – 1977)  Pearle L. Perdue (1892 – 1942)