Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio gives a keynote address at BookExpo 2018 in New York City. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Porter Anderson
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘A Giant, Commercially and Culturally’
News has spread quickly this afternoon (August 27) of the news that Leonard (“Len”) Riggio, the driving force and former chair of Barnes & Noble, the United States’ largest and best-known bookstore chain, has died at age 83.
Riggio’s family says he has died “following a valiant battle with Alzheimer’s disease.” He’s survived by his wife Louise, his brother Stephen, and three brothers, as well as grandchildren and nieces, and a nephew.
A native of Manhattan, Riggio was known not only for Barnes & Noble but also for the separate chain of campus bookstores that he sold to Barnes & Noble; the wholesale distributor MBS Textbook Exchange; and the video-game operator and entertainment-software retailer GameStop.
James Daunt
Riggio’s departure from Barnes & Noble came in 2019, after the company was sold to Elliott Advisors, a hedge fund, which would install James Daunt, managing director of the United Kingdom’s Waterstones to lead Barnes & Noble in the States, as well.
In a statement from Barnes & Noble on the news of the death of its founder, Barnes & Noble’s administration says, “His leadership spanned decades, during which he not only grew the company but also nurtured a culture of innovation and a love for reading.”
Nihar Malaviya
Nihar Malaviya, worldwide CEO of Penguin Random House, the world’s largest publishing company, has quickly released a statement, saying, “In mourning the passing of Len Riggio, we also celebrate the life of a book-loving visionary who transformed the way America reads.
“By establishing Barnes & Noble bookstores everywhere across our country—many in locations that never before had a retailer completely devoted to books—he made books accessible and affordable to millions of readers. Len was a giant, commercially and culturally. It’s a privilege to benefit from all he contributed to our world. Our thoughts are with his wife Louise and his family.”
A ‘Feisty Entrepreneur’
Riggio’s career was frequently colored by his strong personality, the Associated Press’ Hillel Italie writing of him as “a brash, self-styled underdog” who in 1971, used a US$1.2 million loan to buy Barnes & Noble’s name and Fifth Avenue store in New York City.
Malaviya’s reference to cultural engagement involves Riggio’s work in the civil rights movement, on the board of the Children’s Defense Fund; his support for the Stand for Children March in 1966; and the creation of the Freedom School’s Langston Hughes Library and Riggio-Lynch Chapel at the Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee. These were only a few of the social programs Riggio supported, ranging from responses to those left homeless by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the New School’s Writing and Democracy program, to his work the Democratic Party as a fundraiser in campaigns including those of David Dinkins; Charlie Rangel; and Bill Bradley.
In his obituary today, Jeffrey Trachtenberg at the Wall Street Journal writes, “Riggio’s father was a cabdriver and former prize fighter who twice defeated boxer Rocky Graziano in bouts at Madison Square Garden. That legacy helped define Leonard Riggio in the media, where he was often described in pugilistic terms, much to his exasperation.”
Trachtenberg also notes that Riggio and the Barnes & Noble leadership that preceded Daunt would suffer the incursions into the United States’ book-retail scene by Amazon, with Barnes & Noble “late to embrace online bookselling.”
Patrick Oster at Bloomberg Law points out that the “feisty entrepreneur” now is known for turning “a single New York City shop into a brand of superstores.”
Riggio’s family plans a Requiem Mass on Friday (August 30), with a public memorial service to be announced at a later time. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his memory to the Alzheimer’s Association.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Barnes & Noble is here, more on bookselling is here, and more on the United States market is here.