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 prayer s 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. Kristen Pierce-Sherrod at Harold’s Chicken, 2341 W. 95th. Wednesday April 16, 2014.Brian Jackson/Sun-Times Media 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. ...read more read less