Stuart S Richardson

Stuart Richardson took over as chairman of Richardson-Vicks in 1985 and became the fifth member of the Richardson family to serve in that role since 1907, when his great-grandfather, Lunsford Richardson, a North Carolina chemist, started a concern called the Vicks Family Remedies Company in Greensboro. Stuart, who joined the company in 1971, assumed the chairmanship from his father, Smith Richardson Jr., and father and son, along with four other family members, sat on the company's 18-member board. Through trusts and other holdings, the 200-or-so members of the Richardson family own more than 25 percent of Richardson-Vicks's 24.5 million outstanding shares. The firm was sold to Proctor and Gamble in 1985.