Fort Salonga woman fatally struck by husband's car in driveway, police say

A Fort Salonga woman died Monday morning after she was struck by a car driven by her husband — a member of the family that owns and operates the P.C. Richard & Son chain of stores — as he backed out of their driveway, Suffolk police said.

Nancy Richard, 79, was pronounced dead at Huntington Hospital shortly after the 7:30 a.m. incident on Concord Drive, Fourth Squad detectives said in a news release.

The incident occurred as Richard returned home after walking a grandchild to the bus stop, police said, adding that Peter Richard, 83, was backing out of the driveway in a 2015 Mercedes S550.

The incident is under investigation. Police said there is no criminality involved.

Peter Richard, who was not hurt, helped build the retail chain P.C. Richard & Son from a local seller of household appliances into a regional electronics powerhouse with dozens of stores in four states.

Peter Richard and his brother, Gary, ran the business for several decades as their father, A.J. Richard, served as chairman. A.J. Richard died in December 2004.

"Mr. Richard, his children and family ask everyone to respect their privacy as they grieve the heartbreaking loss of their wife, mother and grandmother," the Richard family said in a statement.

Peter and Nancy Richard are philanthropists on Long Island, donating $3.5 million to Stony Brook University’s children's hospital last year to help establish the Pediatric Emergency Department Fund.

The gift came 16 years after the couple’s granddaughter, Courtney Habberstad, then 9, was thrown from a horse at an equestrian summer camp. She entered Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition with a lacerated spleen and shattered left kidney, but doctors, nurses and staff saved her life, her relatives told Newsday in November 2018.

In return for the donation, Stony Brook Medicine honored the family by naming the hospital's lobby after the Peter and Nancy Richard Family Foundation.

"Peter and Nancy Richard have had a monumental impact on our Suffolk County and Long Island communities for generations," then-Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. said, adding that the university looked “forward to translating their philanthropy into a measurable impact on children's lives throughout our region."

P.C. Richard & Son this year has been marking 110 years in business since Peter Christiana Richard started running a hardware store in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in 1909.

A.J. Richard became board chairman in 1980 and Gary Richard became president and chief executive, while Peter Richard became executive vice president. Gregg Richard, Gary's son, was named president in 2004 and chief executive officer in 2012.

The Farmingdale-based company operates 66 showrooms in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, three distribution centers, and two service centers, according to its website.

With Tory N. Parrish