Richard T Farmer

Richard T. "Dick" Farmer, founder and chairman emeritus of the Cintas Corporation, has died, the company announced Thursday afternoon August 5 2021. Farmer served as the Cintas chief executive officer from 1968 to 2003. He is survived by his wife Joyce, and Scott Farmer, his son and Cintas’ Executive Chairman. Richard T. Farmer is the founder of Cintas Corporation. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Cintas Corporation and its predecessor companies since 1968. Prior to the founding of Cintas, Mr. Farmer was with his family owned company, which Cintas acquired in the early 1970's. Prior to August 1, 1995, Mr. Farmer also served as Chief Executive Officer. As the founder and chairman emeritus of Cintas corporation, Richard T. Farmer has created and guided a dynamic company that today is the largest in its industry. Cintas provides highly specialized services to more than 800,000 businesses throughout North America and was recently named among Fortune magazine's list of "America's Most Admired companies" for the ninth consecutive year. Upon graduating from Miami University in 1956 and being honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps, Farmer joined his family's business. He worked in the company for 11 years, eventually rising to become president of the company. In 1968 he left the business to test new concepts and systems that ultimately revolutionized the industry. Within two years, Farmer's new company was so successful that it acquired the Farmer family's business. Under Farmer's leadership, Cintas has grown to over $3.5 billion in revenue. Cintas today is more than 30,000 people strong and maintains more than 400 locations. Farmer was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame in 1996, named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995, and honored by the Cincinnati USA Regional chamber in 2010 as one of the Great Living Cincinnatians. He is the recipient of Doctor of Laws degrees from Miami University and Xavier University, CEO of the Year awards from Financial World magazine in 1994 and 1995, and the 1992 Executive of the Year Award from Sales and Marketing Executives Cincinnati. In 1999, United Way of Greater Cincinnati thanked Farmer for his steady friendship by presenting him with its Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award. Farmer was born in November 1934. He married Joyce Barnes in 1957. The couple has three children and 10 grandchildren. Their Farmer Family Foundation has provided grants and pledges to more than 200 organizations.