Photo by Kyle Walton.

Some sad news to pass along this afternoon — John Olsson, the founder of defunct-but-still-beloved local chain Olsson’s Books & Records, reportedly died last Thursday. From Publishers Weekly:

Olsson’s Books & Records founder John Olsson died last Thursday. A Washington native and graduate of Catholic University, Olsson began working in retail for Discount Records in Washington in 1958 and stayed until 1972 when he opened his own record store. He eventually added books to the mix. At its height Olsson’s had nine book and music stores in the Washington, D.C. metro area with sales over $16 million and 200 employees.

Olsson is the second big bookstore entrepreneur the District has lost in the last few weeks — Carla Cohen, founder of Politics and Prose, died in early October. Services for Olsson will be held tomorrow; those who wish to send flowers are being asked to donate the Maryland chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society instead.

Olsson’s Books & Records, which was a fixture in D.C.’s literary and music scenes for decades, abruptly closed all of its stores in 2008 after getting into financial trouble and declaring bankruptcy.