W. Howard Lester

W. Howard Lester (August 14, 1935 – November 15, 2010) was an American businessman who took over Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in 1976 and acquired Pottery Barn in 1986, building a major catalog retailer that had more than 600 stores and annual sales of $3.4 billion by the time of his death.

Biography Lester was born on August 14, 1935, in Durant, Oklahoma, and worked in a series of jobs before enrolling at the University of Oklahoma. He dropped out of college and was drafted and served in the United States Army; he completed his degree after leaving military service.

Following a series of careers, including working for IBM, Lester founded an employment agency. By 1976, he built and sold a computer software company he had established and was looking for another prospective business opportunity. A friend told him about Williams-Sonoma, and Lester analyzed the business for months in detail. The company had been established in 1956 in Sonoma, California, and had grown to four stores. Its catalog business had grown substantially under the guidance of Edward Marcus, and the firm's founder Chuck Williams was looking to move on after Marcus died in 1976. Lester stepped down as the company's chairman in the months before his death, by which time Williams-Sonoma and its network of catalogs had grown to 600 stores and annual sales of $3.4 billion.