R. H. Stearns

He was educated in district schools and attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for one year.

The store catered to the "carriage trade" (well-off customers) and was particularly noted for its woman's clothing, the stereotypical Stearns customer being a white-gloved older woman of subdued upper-crust demeanor, although well-crafted children's items were also sold, as well as men's clothing, silver and crystal – but not appliances.

[citation needed] In the mid 20th century, Carl N. Schmalz (1898-1979), son of a general store owner in Huntley, Illinois, was president and later board chairman;[5] Schmalz arranged the sale of the company to Edward Goodman, former president of Abraham & Straus, in 1975.

[7] Another son, William Foster Stearns (b. April 18, 1859;) was an 1882 graduate of Amherst College and a Congregational clergyman.

[citation needed] Stearns died in August 1909 in Poland Springs, Maine, at age 85 of natural causes.