Richmond Holden Sr., Retired J.L. Hammett President, Passes Away

Braintree, MA-- Richmond Y. Holden Sr., former president/ chairman of education products cataloger J.L. Hammett Co., passed away July 24 at the age of 75.

Holden spent 31 years as president of Hammett, a business that his family has owned and operated for more than a century. He was the grandson of Harry H. Young, who led the group of Massachusetts investors that purchased the company from founder John L. Hammett in 1895. Holden entered the family business in 1948 as a sales representative in the New Jersey division. Five years later, he became vice president of the Cambridge, MA facility. Holden was named general manager/treasurer/clerk of the corporation after Young passed away in 1958.

The leadership of Hammett was passed on to Holden in 1961 when he was elected president of the company. Holden expanded Hammett’s services, supplying private and parochial schools along with the public education sector.