Richard "Dick" Fontaine, who at different times was a top executive at B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble, GameStop and its related companies, Ingram, and Michaels, died on February 25. He was 82.
While teaching high school English, Fontaine began working part-time at Dalton, then joined full time and rose through the ranks to become president. In 1984, he left Dalton, becoming president of Ingram Software and Ingram Video, and also headed Michaels. In 1988, two years after B&N purchased Dalton, Fontaine was appointed to head the company's Software Etc. In 1991, Fontaine was named president and CEO of Dalton and executive v-p of B&N, responsible also for B&N's Scribner's and Doubleday bookstores.
In 1996, Fontaine co-founded what became GameStop with B&N CEO Len Riggio and Dan DeMatteo, buying the bankrupt NeoStar, which was a merger of Software, Etc., and Babbage's. Fontaine became CEO and helped turn GameStop around. In 2002, Fontaine became chairman. From 2008-2010 he was executive chairman, and then became chairman international from 2010-2013. He retired as a board member in 2016.