Stew Leonard Sr. is being remembered as a successful businessman who turned a small Norwalk dairy store into a $600 million regional grocery chain.
He died at age 93 on Wednesday, according to a company announcement.
“He started as a milkman and created an amazing business,” his son, Stew Leonard, Jr., wrote, in announcing his father’s passing.
A resident of Westport, Leonard died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York after a brief illness.
Leonard began his career working for his family’s Clover Farms Dairy in Norwalk, but pivoted in the 1960s to focus on building a retail store as home delivery of dairy products fell out of fashion. The first Stew Leonard’s store opened in 1969, offering just six items in a 17,000-square-foot location.
Stew Leonard’s now operates seven large grocery stores and employs 2,500 people, with annual sales of $600 million, according to the company. Connecticut locations include Danbury, Newington and Norwalk, in addition to four stores in New York.
The company purchased a property at 161 Marsh Hill Road in Orange in 1994 with the intention of building a major Stew Leonard’s at the location, but gave up on the plan after 15 years of fighting with neighbors who were opposed to retail development.
Stew Leonard, Jr. took over as president and CEO in 1991, with other family members involved in the business.
The family asked that donations in Leonard’s memory be made to the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation, a nonprofit formed in honor of a grandson who drowned in 1989.
There will be a public visitation for Leonard on Monday, May 1, from 3-7 p.m. at St. Matthew’s Church, 216 Scribner Ave, Norwalk.
Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
