A new bench on Greenwich Avenue now bears the name of Eddie Schachter, the German-born Jewish immigrant who founded Richard's and helped shape the town's retail identity over nearly four decades.

The dedication took place Thursday, Sept. 10, steps from the entrance to Richard's, where a bench with a memorial plaque replaced a standard Town of Greenwich bench. The plaque reads: "In loving memory of Eddie Schachter, Founder of Richard's who made the world brighter."

Schachter died in 2025 at 101.

His daughter, Susan Fleisher, First Selectman Fred Camillo, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin, and Rabbi Daniel Cohen were among those who gathered for the ceremony, Greenwich Free Press reported.

"He was the kind of person who made sure you felt better about yourself after you met him than before you met him," Rabbi Cohen said at the dedication. "He tried to light people up."

Schachter was born in Germany and arrived in the United States on Dec. 31, 1938, after fleeing the Holocaust. He served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police officer and interpreter, becoming a citizen during his service. His path to Greenwich Avenue started with selling Army-Navy surplus goods in White Plains.

In 1956, he purchased a small men's specialty store called Richard's from Richard Schlesinger. Fleisher said her father originally located the store at 175 Greenwich Ave. He later moved it to 265 Greenwich Ave., the current site of RH Estates The Gallery, and then to 350 Greenwich Ave., where Athleta and Rodd & Gunn operate now.

"In those days he took a big risk," Fleisher said of her father's decision to push the business toward the southern end of the Avenue, which was far less established at the time.

Schachter sold Richard's to Mitchell Stores in 1995. The new owners opened a 27,000-square-foot location at 350 Greenwich Ave. in 2000.

Fleisher noted that Jewish immigrants built many of Greenwich Avenue's early businesses, pointing to Grossman Shoes and Caldor among them. She recalled that when her father arrived, Jewish merchants were not always welcomed in town, but his personality won people over.

A 2017 Greenwich Historical Society exhibit, "An American Odyssey: The Jewish Experience in Greenwich," documented a second wave of Jewish-owned businesses in the 1940s and 1950s that included Richard's, Grossman's Shoes, Grannick's Pharmacy and the Clam Box restaurant in Cos Cob.

The bench sits on Greenwich Avenue, a few steps from the store Schachter opened 70 years ago.