Leonard Riggio, a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the publishing industry by building Barnes & Noble into the country’s most powerful bookseller but later saw his company overtaken by the rise of Amazon.com, has died at age 83. Riggio’s reign at Barnes & Noble began in 1971 when he used a $1.2 million loan to purchase the company’s name and its flagship store on lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He acquired hundreds of new stores and launched what became a nationwide empire of “superstores” that combined a chain’s discount prices and massive capacity with the cozy appeal of couches and cafes.
