Stride Rite’s Chairman Announces Retirement

Arnold Hiatt, who led Stride Rite Corp. through two decades of steady growth while boosting its social conscience, announced Monday that he will resign as chairman in June.

Hiatt, 64, informed the Stride Rite board of his plans via telephone Monday morning.

He will remain as a director and work full time as chairman of the Stride Rite Charitable Foundation. Ervin Shames, Stride Rite’s chief executive, will succeed Hiatt as chairman.

The company is famous for its line of children’s shoes and the Keds sneaker brand, which it bought in the mid-1980s.

But during Hiatt’s tenure, Stride Rite became known for its social conscience with the nation’s first no-smoking policy; the first on-site day care center; the first on-site fitness center for employees; the first intergenerational adult day care center where elders mix with children, and one of the most liberal family leave policies in corporate America.

“I take as much pride in that as in the financial performance of the company,” Hiatt said in an interview Monday.

In his 24 years presiding over the company, Hiatt saw Stride Rite grow from a market value of $36 million to a current $1.3 billion.

Josie Esquivel, an analyst with Shearson Lehman Bros. in New York, said the company has been adept at spotting consumer trends.

Its Sperry Top-Sider brand tapped into the “preppy” craze, and recently Stride Rite successfully aimed Keds at the fashion market.