Thomas Stemberg: US businessman and venture capitalist who founded the office-supply retailer Staples

He also founded Olly Shoes, a children's footwear retailer, and Zoots, a dry cleaner

Oversaw huge revenues: Stemberg in 2004 (Getty)

Thomas Stemberg, who has died of gastric cancer, was the founder and former chief executive officer of the office-supply firm Staples Inc. Stemberg wrote the business plan for Staples and with backing from supermarket magnate Leo Kahn opened the first store in 1986. The chain today is the largest US office-supply retailer and has more than 1,600 stores in North America as well as shops in about a dozen countries around the world, including Britain. It had revenues of $22.5bn in its latest fiscal year.

Stemberg served as CEO until 2002 and chairman until 2005. That year he joined Highland Consumer Partners, a Wellesley, Massachusetts-based venture capital firm, where he was managing general partner. The firm focuses on the consumer industry. He also founded Olly Shoes, a children's footwear retailer, and Zoots, a dry cleaner.

He was born in 1949 in New Jersey, to Austrian immigrants. After his father died when he was 13, he moved with his mother to her native Vienna, where he attended the American International School. He returned to the US to attend Harvard, graduating in 1971. Two years later, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stemberg had been a supporter of Mitt Romney since Romney ran for the US Senate in 1994, and spoke on Romney's behalf at the 2012 Republican National Convention when Romney had set his sights on the White House. Stemberg encouraged Romney to make healthcare more accessible, which led Romney to reform healthcare in Massachusetts.

Thomas George Stemberg, businessman: born Newark, New Jersey 18 January 1949; twice married; died Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 23 October 2015.

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