On Thursday, a small crowd gathered on Greenwich Avenue with Susan Fleisher, whose father, Edward Schachter, affectionately known as Eddie, was the founder of Richard’s on Greenwich Avenue. Mr. Schachter passed away in 2025 at the age of 101.
A new bench with a plaque dedicated to his memory replaced a green Town of Greenwich bench located steps from the entrance to Richard’s.
Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin, Susan Fleisher (Edward Schachter’s daughter) and Rich Gold on the bench dedicated to Mr. Schachter, founder of Richard’s on Greenwich Avenue. Sept 10, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager
Mr. Schachter was born in Germany and arrived in the United States on December 31, 1938, after fleeing the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. He served his adopted country as an Army Military Police officer and interpreter. During his service, he proudly became a U.S. citizen.
His entrepreneurial journey began by selling Army-Navy surplus goods in White Plains.
In 1956, he purchased a small men’s specialty store, Richard’s in Greenwich from Richard Schlesinger.
With Susan, Mr. Schachter transformed Richard’s into one of the world’s finest clothing stores.
Ms Fleisher explained that her father originally located Richard’s at 175 Greenwich Avenue. Later he moved the business to 265 Greenwich Ave where RH just celebrated the opening of RH Estates The Gallery. Then he moved the business to 350 Greenwich Ave – now home to Athleta and Rodd & Gunn – toward the bottom of the Avenue, which at the time was nowhere near as posh as today.
“In those days he took a big risk,” Fleisher said of her father’s decision to move the business further south on the Avenue.
Ultimately, Schachter sold the business to Mitchell Stores in 1995. In 2000, the new owners celebrated the grand opening of a new Richard’s in a new 27,000 sq ft building at 350 Greenwich Ave.
“He always tried to make the world better. He gave back, not only to Greenwich but also the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Daniel Cohen as he gazed at the new bench and plaque on Thursday. “He was the kind of person who made sure you felt better about yourself after your met him than before you met him. He tried to light people up. This is a real tribute to him. I know his memory lives in all of us.”
“It’s a great legacy. This is a part of what made Greenwich ‘Greenwich,'” said First Selectman Fred Camillo. “It’s not just the people and residents, but businesses that constantly gave back and continue to give back. I can’t say enough, and it makes Greenwich a special community.”
A plaque on a new bench on Greenwich Avenue is dedicated to Edward Schachter. The plaque reads: “In loving memory of Eddie Schachter, Founder of Richard’s who made the world brighter.” Sept 10, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager
Ms Fleisher said after her father ran Army & Navy stores, he might have ended up in another town.
“At the time Jewish people were not that welcome,” she recalled. “But he had an amazing personality, and was so charming that people embraced him.”
Fleisher noted that many of the stores on Greenwich Avenue were established by Jewish immigrants.
“In Greenwich here were other Jewish immigrants who came here and became merchants. Grossman Shoes and Caldor,” Fleisher said, explaining that Caldor was named by cutting the first names of Carl and Dorothy Bennett in half – Cal and Dorothy. They opened their first store in Port Chester in 1951. Caldor opened in Riverside in the early 1960s.
A 2017 Greenwich Historical Society exhibit, An American Odyssey: The Jewish Experience in Greenwich, chronicled the early Jewish experience in Greenwich.
The Jewish Experience in Greenwich Timeline
1880 – 1919 23 million Europeans sail to America. Two million are Yiddish speaking Jews. Most arrive in Greenwich from Russia/Poland through Port Chester.
1880 – 1910 Jewish immigrants begin peddling goods, including notions, clothing, tinware and junk which required little capital.
1898 – 1930s First wave of stores is established by Jews in Greenwich, including Cohen Brothers Grocers, Marks Brothers Newspaper Store, Royal Scarlett Grocery Store which eventually becomes Mayer Bennett’s grocery, Tunick’s Junk business, The Favorite Shoe Store, and Taylor’s newsstand in Cos Cob.
1916 The first Jewish congregation, “The Greenwich Hebrew Institute,” is established in rented space on Greenwich Avenue.
1924 – 1940s Anti-Semitism intensifies beginning with passage of the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act,which institutes a national origins quota on immigration, targeting Southern and Eastern Europeans, particularly Italians and Jews. At the same time, the Ku KluxKlan was in ascendance and Henry Ford’s and Father Coughlin’s anti-Semitic propaganda was gaining widespread popularity. This continued through the 1930s and 1940s.
1940s Greenwich Jews fight in World War II.
1940s – 1950s Second wave of Jewish businesses opens in Greenwich, including Richard’s, Grossman’s Shoes, Roven’s Curtain Shop, Grannick’s Pharmacy, and the Clam Box restaurant in Cos Cob.