Staples founder was ‘dynamic visionary’
Search for printer ribbon spurred idea
BOSTON — Thomas Stemberg, a former grocery business executive who founded Staples Inc. and revolutionized the office supplies retail business, died Oct. 23 at his home in Chestnut Hill, Mass. He was 66.
Venture capital firm Highland Capital Partners, which Stemberg joined in 2005, said he died of cancer.
Stemberg was a New England grocery executive but left after a dispute with his bosses. He came up with the idea of Staples after driving around the Boston area searching unsuccessfully for printer ribbon on a July 4th weekend in 1985 when stores were closed.
Staples, based in Framingham, Mass., grew into a chain with $22.5 billion US in revenue and 83,000 employees last year. The chain today is the largest U.S. office-supply retailer and has more than 1,600 stores in North America. It was among the first big-box stores that applied price pressure on competitors and lured shoppers from downtown stores and shopping malls.
Stemberg served as CEO until 2002 and chairman until 2005. That year he joined Highland Consumer Partners, a Wellesley, Mass.-based venture capital firm, where he was managing general partner.
He also founded Olly Shoes, a children’s footwear retailer, and Zoots, a dry cleaner.
“When I invest, I look for two things above all: a great market and a great entrepreneur,” Stemberg said, according to an article in the July-August issue of Inc. magazine last year. “The business plan is going to change. The team is going to evolve. But if you have a leader who can inspire others and a growing market that offers you an opportunity to differentiate yourself, typically you’ll have a winner.”
Former governor Mitt Romney, whose Bain Capital invested in Staples, called Stemberg “an extraordinarily creative and dynamic visionary.”
“Tom is one of the great business leaders of our state and our nation,” he said, according to the Boston Globe.