Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Noble Founder and Former Chairman, Dies at Age 83

Mar. 15, 2025

Leonard Riggio in 2005.Photo:A. Messerschmidt/Getty

Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio, the owner of Noble Causeway, watches an early-morning workout May 5, 2005 at Churchill Downs to prepare for the running of the 131st Kentucky Derby in Louisville.

A. Messerschmidt/Getty

Leonard Riggio in 2003.Rose Hartman/Getty

American businessman and entrepreneur Leonard Riggio at the opening of the Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, New York City, May 2003

Rose Hartman/Getty

Riggio founded Barnes & Noble in 1971, when he acquired the trade name and the then-flagship store in Manhattan.“We shaped New York bookselling as much as New York shaped us,” Riggio toldPublisher’s Weeklyin 2007. Throughout his nearly 50 years at the helm of the company, Riggio helped expand the store nationally and opened some of its first superstores. He also innovated the store into a location where people could socialize and linger, according to theNew York Times. Riggio stepped down from his chairman role in 2019.In addition to Barnes and Noble, Riggio founded Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, MBS Textbook and video game company GameStop. According toPR Newswire, the companies under Riggio’s operation totaled more than 5,000 retail stores nationwide at the height of his career, and employed more than 100,000 people.

Leonard Riggio in 2018.Nicholas Hunt/Getty

Len Riggio speaks onstage during Jazz At Lincoln Center’s 30th Anniversary Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 18, 2018 in New York City.

Nicholas Hunt/Getty

A longtime advocate for literary, public education and the arts, Riggio founded initiatives like theWriting and Democracy Programat The New School, the “Close the book on Hate" program for the Anti-Defamation League and the DIA: Beacon, one of the largest contemporary art museums in the world. He was also the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Frederick Douglass Medallion and the Americanism Award, which is the highest honor one can receive from the Anti-Defamation League.

source: people.com