Leonard Riggio, a Palm Beach resident and the former chairman of the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain, died Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 83.
A release from the family listed the cause of death as Alzheimer's disease. He died in New York City surrounded by his family, a spokesperson told the Daily News.
A native New Yorker, Mr. Riggio was born in Manhattan's Little Italy before spending his formative years in Brooklyn, where he attended Brooklyn Technical High School. He graduated in 1958 at 16 having skipped two grades.
He began attending night school at New York University, but decided his time was better spent climbing the ranks in the college bookstore — where he began as a stock boy — than sitting in class. Known for his entrepreneurial spirit and financial acumen, he became a pioneer in the retail world, the release from the family said.
Here in Palm Beach, Mr. Riggio and his wife, Louise, in June listed their home at 1446 N. Ocean Blvd. for $96 million, and it landed under contract less than six weeks after going public in the multiple listing service.
The Riggiosbought the house in 2003 for a recorded $14 million. In 2009, they expanded the property with the purchase of an adjacent parcel for $1.45 million, courthouse records show.
Beginning in the early 1970s, Mr. Riggiogrew Barnes & Noble until it became the world’s largest bookselling company.Barnes & Noble today is owned by Elliott Advisors (UK) Ltd.
Mr. Riggio also founded Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, the largest operator of college campus bookstores; MBS Textbook Exchange, the largest wholesale textbook distributor; and GameStop, the largest operator of video game and entertainment software stores, the release said.
There are five Barnes & Noble stories in Palm Beach County, in Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton. Barnes & Noble College has four locations in the county, at the American Heritage School in Delray Beach, Lynn University in Boca Raton, Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Day Academy in Palm Beach.
GameStop has stores in Boca Raton, Jupiter, Lake Park, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Springs, Lake Worth Beach Royal Palm Beach and Wellington.
Mr. Riggio served on the board of the Children's Defense Fund, where he organized and funded the 1996 Stand for Children March in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, with his wife, Louise, he built the Freedom School's Langston Hughes Library and Riggio-Lynch Chapel at the Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee.
After Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Riggio created Project Home Again, building and giving away 101 homes to families in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, helping to revitalize and reinvigorate the neighborhood that had been ravaged by the storm.
As a tireless advocate for public education, literacy, and the arts, the family said, Mr. Riggio funded several important projects including DIA: Beacon, one of the largest contemporary art museums in the world; the Brooklyn Tech Foundation, the first and largest private endowment for a public high school; and the "Close the Book on Hate" program for the Anti-Defamation League, which issued millions of booklets designed to help guide parents with children who were either victims of hate or felt anger or hatred themselves. He also created a Writing and Democracy Program at the New School.
His commitment to promoting equality and diversity earned him numerous awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Frederick Douglass Medallion. In 2002, he received the Americanism Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Anti-Defamation League. The award cited his work "to celebrate diversity and make the dream of freedom and equality a reality for so many Americans."
Mr. Riggio received honorary degrees from Baruch College of the City University of New York, Bentley College, Adelphi University, Tusculum College, Tennessee Tech University, Kingsborough Community College, and Long Island University. He was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs at Babson College and the Texas A&M University Retail Hall of Fame.
Mr. Riggio sat on the board of the Columbus Citizens Foundation and served as the 2017 Grand Marshall for the Italian American Heritage Day Parade in New York City. He was also named the 2002 Borough of Brooklyn Italian American Man of the Year.
As a passionate supporter of and donor to the Democratic Party, Mr. Riggio was one of the founding members of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Trustees and raised millions for the campaigns of David Dinkins, Charlie Rangel, Bill Bradley and other prominent Democrats.
"Leonard Riggio was a man of strong character and great intellect. His astounding generosity for others will live on. I will miss his sharp wit and his charming way of being. He will be remembered by those of us who knew him as a very kind man," said Palm Beach resident Lawrence Moens.
The Riggios' other residences included homes in New York and in Wellington.
Mr. Riggio is survived by his wife of 43 years, Louise; and three daughters, Lisa Rollo (Christopher) of Jupiter, Florida, Donna Cortese (Steven) of Oyster Bay, New York, and Stephanie Bulger (Michael) of Bridgehampton, New York. He is also survived by his brother Stephen (Laura) of New York City; four grandsons, Steven, Anthony and Joseph Cortese and Leo Bulger; nieces, Laura Nayar (Karan) and Christina Fitzsimmons (Michael); and nephew, Jake Riggio. He was preceded in death by his parents, Stephen and Lena Riggio; his brother, Vincent "Jimi" Riggio (Joann Riggio); and niece, Melissa Ann Riggio.
There will be a Mass of Christian burial at 10 a.m. Friday at The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York, with a public celebration of Mr. Riggio's life to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his memory to the Alzheimer's Association.
