Richard Labonte, who once managed the LGBTQ bookstore A Different Light in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, died March 20 at his home in British Columbia, Canada after a battle with stomach cancer.
He was 72.Mr. Labonte was a co-founder of A Different Light with his then-partner Norman Laurila, according to an article on SF Gate.
The Castro store opened in 1985, following the first location in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. Mr. Labonte became the manager of the Castro store in 1986.
The store closed in 2011.Throughout the 1990s, A Different Light became a center of queer culture in California and New York, places where authors and fans met for readings and informal receptions, an online obituary noted.