Darden Restaurant's first CEO Joe Lee has died

{
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  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "promotes",
  "detected_at": "2025-10-21T00:00:00+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Red Lobster",
    "domain": "redlobster.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/darden-restaurant-s-first-ceo-joe-lee-has-died",
    "title": "Darden Restaurant's first CEO Joe Lee has died",
    "contact": "Lee",
    "excerpt": "Darden restaurant's first CEO Joe Lee has died.\n\nLee was also the co-founder and first general manager of Red Lobster\n\nJoe R. Lee Photo courtesy of Darden Restaurants\n\nJoe R. Lee, the co-founder and first general manager of Red Lobster and the first chief executive officer of Darden Restaurants, passed away Oct. 12 at the age of 85. His death was first announced in the Orlando Business Journal on Monday.\n\nBorn in 1940 in rural Georgia, Lee served in the United States Air Force before joining Red Lobster's founding team in 1967 alongside Bill Darden.\n\nLee began as the general manager of the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Fla., in 1968. When Darden was promoted to vice president of General Mills in 1975, Lee was promoted to president of Red Lobster. Under his leadership, the chain expanded to nearly 400 locations by 1985.\n\nWhen Darden Restaurants split from General Mills in 1995, Lee became the company's first chairman and CEO, serving until 2004. He retired from the board of directors in 2005.\n\nDuring his tenure, Lee oversaw the growth of what has since become the largest casual-dining company in the United States, with a portfolio that includes Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Chuy's, Seasons 52, Yard House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, and others.\n\n\"We are saddened by the passing of Joe Lee. Not only was Joe a terrific restaurant operator who helped create the...",
    "summary": "Red Lobster, Inc. promoted Lee to president on Jan 1st '75.",
    "category": "promotes",
    "found_at": "2025-10-21T00:00:00Z",
    "planning": false,
    "image_url": "https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/bltea7aee2fca050a19/blt33b3995be2cb62d7/68f7aaa0524c6a1e27de0327/Joe_R._Lee.jpg?disable=upscale&width=1200&height=630&fit=crop",
    "job_title": "president",
    "confidence": 0.5931,
    "published_at": "2025-10-21T00:00:00Z",
    "effective_date": "1975-01-01",
    "job_title_tags": [
      "directors"
    ],
    "article_sentence": "When Darden was promoted to vice president of General Mills in 1975, Lee was promoted to president of Red Lobster."
  }
}

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curl -X POST https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/companies/enrich \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $AUTOBOUND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain":"redlobster.com","limit":20}'