The founder of Barnes & Noble, Leonard Riggio, has passed away at 83, after struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition to Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Riggio founded Barnes & Noble College Booksellers operated MBS Textbook Exchange, and the gaming and entertainment software business GameStop.
Riggo operated more than 5000 stores in 50 states, employing more than 100,000 people and altering the retail landscape of America.
Riggio was on the board of the Children’s Defence Fund, where he organised and funded the 1996 Stand for Children March in Washington, DC. He then collaborated with his wife Louise to construct the Freedom School’s Langston Hughes Library and Riggio-Lynch Chapel on the Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee.
He has also received various honors, including the Anti-Defamation League’s highest, the Americanism Award, which was presented for his efforts “to celebrate diversity and make the dream of freedom and equality a reality for so many Americans.”
- Further reading: Former JCPenney chief, Starbucks chair Mike Ullman dies
