Legendary grocer Stew Leonard dies at 93

The founder of the Stew Leonard’s grocery store chain has died at the age of 93.

Stew Leonard, Sr. passed away on April 26, 2023, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City after a brief illness.

Born in Norwalk, Conn., in 1929, Leonard started out working for his family’s dairy business. In the late 1960s, he decided to open a retail dairy store where kids could watch milk being bottled while parents shopped in a farmer’s market atmosphere.

In December 1969, he opened the first Stew Leonard’s location. The 17,000-sq.-ft. store featured only eight items. It grew to become the “World’s Largest Dairy store” according to Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and also earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest dollar sales per square foot of selling space.

Today, Stew Leonard’s has become a $600 million family-owned and operated business with seven stores — known for their animatronic singing farm animals — in New York State, New Jersey and Connecticut, and more than 2,500 employees. The company is run by the founder’s son, Stew Leonard, Jr., with help from his siblings Tom Leonard, Beth Leonard Hollis and Jill Leonard Tavello. Five of his grandchildren have also joined the business, including Jake Tavello who serves as COO.

In 1993, Leonard was sentenced to 52 months in federal prison for tax evasion, an experience he later addressed in his 2009 memoir, “Stew Leonard: My Story.”

Leonard’s memorial service and burial will be private, with a celebration of life to take place at a later date. Donations in Stew’s memory may be made to the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation, a 501C3 charity which helps to fund swimming lessons for children in need, in honor of his grandson who drowned in 1989.

To read the full obituary, please click here.