Grocery store founder Stew Leonard Sr. has died at the age of 93.
His death was confirmed on Thursday by his namesake supermarket — Stew Leonard’s — on Twitter, via company press release and newsletter.
Leonard died “peacefully” on Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, according to the Stew Leonard’s Twitter account.
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The supermarket founder, who was born Dec. 1, 1929, in Norwalk, Connecticut, died after dealing with a “brief illness,” the company news release states.
Leonard opened his first fresh food store, which focused on retail dairy sales and measured 17,000 square feet, in his hometown in 1969.
The store went on to earn a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest dollar sales per square foot of selling space, according to Stew Leonard’s.
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The $600 million family-owned business has grown to seven locations across Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, with more than 2,500 team members.
Leonard is survived by his wife of 70 years, Marianne Guthman Leonard, and their four children, Stew Leonard Jr., Tom Leonard, Beth Leonard Hollis and Jill Leonard Tavello.
He also had 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
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Leonard’s son, Stew Leonard Jr., who is the current president and CEO of Stew Leonard’s, released an obituary he wrote to commemorate his father in a company newsletter that went out to customers.
“I knew this day would come but I’m still trying to wrap my head around it,” Leonard Jr. wrote. “Just a month ago, he was swimming in a pool.”
Leonard Jr. noted that his father started his career as a milkman and “created an amazing business.”
He went on to share that his father was known to be kind to customers and employees and genuinely enjoyed taking photos with everyone he met.
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The grocery chain executive revealed that he will miss the daily phone calls he had with his dad, and he plans to carry on his father’s journaling tradition.
“I was lucky enough to stand on your shoulders, Dad, and by the way, I’ll keep trying to find the best meatball, marinara sauce, and pizza,” Leonard Jr. wrote. “And every time I cook salmon, I’ll think of you saying that the inside needs to be the perfect pink.”
“I’m choking up just writing this, but I’m trying to focus on 93+ years of his amazing and colorful life. I was fortunate enough to spend 68 of them by his side,” he continued. “I was lucky and grateful to have an amazing Dad.”
The Leonard family will hold a private memorial service and burial, but a public celebration of life will be announced at a later date, according to the Stew Leonard’s press release.
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The regional grocery store chain announced that donations to the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation are welcome. The nonprofit charity funds swimming lessons for children in need and it was founded in honor of Leonard’s grandson, Stew Leonard III, who drowned in 1989.