Edward W. Stack

Edward W. Stack (born 1954/1955) is an American billionaire businessman. In 1984, Stack took over as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Dick's Sporting Goods, a sports equipment retailing company founded in 1948 by his father, Dick Stack. In February 2021, he was succeeded as CEO by Lauren Hobart. Early life and education Edward W. Stack is the son of Richard "Dick" Stack, who founded sports equipment retailer Dick's Sporting Goods in 1948. He grew up in the East Side neighborhood of Binghamton, New York, attended public schools, and played baseball and football at Binghamton North High School. Stack received a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in accounting from St. John Fisher College in 1977. He planned to become a lawyer, but opted to help run the family business after his father's health declined. Career Stack and his siblings purchased Dick's from their father in the early 1980s, when the company had two locations in Upstate New York. He became chairman and chief executive officer following his father's retirement in 1984. Stack established a board of directors, opened additional stores, and relocated the company's headquarters to Pittsburgh in 1994. He led the company during its initial public offering in 2002. Stack owned approximately 25 percent of the company's common stock, and controlled nearly two-thirds of its voting shares, as of 2010. After selling 5.8 percent of his holdings in 2013, he owned around 20 percent of the company, primarily via Class B shares. Following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018, Stack announced that Dick's and its subsidiaries would stop selling military pattern semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, and would not sell firearms to people under the age of 21. In addition, Stack reported to destroy $5 million worth of assault-style-type rifles then in Dick's inventory. He has advocated for stronger gun control and worked to enact change by hiring lobbyists and meeting with politicians.