Tributes have been paid across the industry to Len Riggio, the former chair of Barnes & Noble, who has died at the age of 83 after a long battle with Alzheimers. Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House worldwide, said: “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.”
Credited with democratizing chain bookstores, making them unstuffy, he told The New York Times in 2016. “Our bookstores were designed to be welcoming as opposed to intimidating. These weren’t elitist places. You could go in, get a cup of coffee, sit down and read a book for as long as you like, use the restroom. These were innovations that we had that no one thought was possible.”
He was a colourful figure whose father was a cab driver and prize fighter who beat Rocky Graziano twice, and he was often described by the media as “feisty” or “gutsy.” A New Yorker through and through he told Business Week: “My nationality is New York City. I don’t mean I’m a New Yorker like the New York Times is a New Yorker. I mean it in the Horatio Alger sense”, a reference to the 19th century American novelist who wrote novels about impoverished youngsters who rise above their humble beginnings.
Riggio sold the chain in 2019 to the investment company Elliott Advisers who installed Waterstones’ James Daunt as CEO. Riffio
stepped down from B&N in 2016, remaining upbeat about the company in whose expansion he had played such a key role.