Long-time sales rep John Lawrence Rikhoff died in his sleep on August 13 at the age of 78. He began his book career in the late 1950s selling college textbooks for Houghton Mifflin. In 1974, he became v-p director of HM’s dictionary division, then left to join Collins-World Publishing Co. as president and CEO. When the company was sold a few years later, Rikhoff joined Intermed Communications as director of the book division. Then in 1981, he and Hank Walck formed an independent sales rep group, Walck-Rikhoff Bookpeddlers, which sold to bookstores in the Mid-Atlantic states. Seventeen years later Rikhoff retired and moved to Eugene, Ore., to be closer to family.
Rikhoff is survived by his wife, Karen, three sons, Greg (Lisa) and Rob of Eugene and Jeff (Tess) of Germantown, Md., brother Rick and sister-in-law Mary of Columbus, Ohio, and three grandchildren, Taylor Ben, and Maddie. Memorial contributions may be made to Parkinson’s Research foundations in honor of his wife, Karen.
