Leonard Riggio

Leonard Stephen Riggio was born in New York City on February 28, 1941. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, graduating in 1958, followed by evening classes at New York University. His father, Steve Riggio, was a professional boxer who twice defeated Rocky Graziano.

His brother, Steve Riggio, was CEO of the Barnes & Noble chain of bookstores from 2002 until his replacement by William Lynch in 2010.

While at New York University, Riggio founded the Student Book Exchange in 1965 and turned this small bookstore into a leading retailer. He acquired the Barnes & Noble bookstore in New York City in 1971 and adopted its name for his expanding company. He acquired hundreds of bookstores through the years and launched the Barnes & Noble superstore concept with an in-store coffee shop and spacious reading alcoves. In 1986, Riggio used junk bonds issued by Drexel Burnham Lambert and a major investment from the Dutch retailer Vendex International to buy B. Dalton; the acquisition made Barnes & Noble the biggest bookseller in the United States.

Riggio is recognized as being among the first entrepreneurs who turned the elitist world of bookstores into recreational stores. In 1997, Barnes & Noble had 483 superstores, 528 mall-based B. Daltons, and sales went up to $2.8 billion. The company went public in 1993. Riggio launched barnesandnoble.com to compete with Amazon.com for online book sales and launched a successful video game retail operation, which grew to become GameStop. By the end of the 20th century, Riggio had built Barnes & Noble into the world's largest bookseller.

From 1985, Riggio was Chairman of the Board and majority owner of MBS Textbook Exchange, Inc. based in Columbia, Missouri. As of 2024 at the time of his death, MBS was one of the nation's largest wholesalers of college textbooks.

Riggio was married twice and had three children. His first marriage ended in divorce; his second wife was named Louise Gebbia. He owned residences on Park Avenue in Manhattan, in Bridgehampton, New York, and in Palm Beach, Florida. He was active in Democratic Party politics, and served as head of campaign finance for David Dinkins's unsuccessful re-election bid as mayor of New York City in 1993.

Riggio died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in Manhattan on August 27, 2024, at the age of 83.

Riggio was the benefactor of many community organizations and charities, including New York University and the Dia:Beacon art museum in Beacon, New York. Meanwhile as an art collector he assembled a notable collection specializing in Minimalist art. At one time he was listed as one of the top 200 art collectors in the world by ARTnews and the significant works in his holdings included Richard Serra's massive sculpture Sidewinder (1999), Willem de Kooning's bronze sculpture Seated Woman (1969–81), and Mark di Suvero's Caramba (1984–90).

He also established Project Home Again to assist residents of New Orleans, Louisiana, who were affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Project Home Again will spend $20 million from the Riggio Foundation to build new homes in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. The pilot phase involves building 20 new homes on St. Bernard Avenue. On November 10, 2011, the program cut the ribbon on its 101st home. In addition to rebuilding the homes, the Riggios, through a partnership with Rooms to Go, also furnished the homes. On November 24, 2012, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu awarded the Riggios keys to the City of New Orleans at a City Council meeting.