Remembering some of the inventors, creators, leaders, and innovators who passed this year.   Alan Hassenfeld November 16, 1948 - July 8, 2025Alan Hassenfeld, former Chairman of the Board and present Chairman of the Executive Committee of Hasbro, Inc. a multi-billion dollar international toy company. Under his leadership, Hasbro has become a worldwide leader in children’s and family entertainment. Its brands and products are some of the most recognizable and respected throughout the world.Alan was a business leader with a passion for philanthropy. His far reaching impact has crossed local, regional, national and international borders. From the beginning of his career, he had been involved in literally hundreds of charitable and social causes. His enthusiasm and spirit had touched the lives of millions of people – and impacted communities across the world. Whether he was fighting for the human rights of manufacturing workers in Asia or coexistence in the Middle East, his energy and guidance always provide positive results.Alan believed in active leadership. Through his charitable work and foundation participation, he had the ability to stay involved in hundreds of community, social and political causes. These included primarily children’s issues, social responsibility, political reform, and social entrepreneurship. His goal was always to focus on what can be done better and what needs to be developed in order to establish foundations for future success. The goal of the family foundation is to be a catalyst for positive change and collaboration.Mr. Hassenfeld had been honored many times for his efforts. His awards came from diverse organizations including universities, charitable organizations, political and religious communities as well as corporate institutes. Many are lifetime awards – which is a reflection of his beliefs. Alan had focused much time throughout his life on issues and concerns throughout the world. He has used his position as Chairman of the Executive Committee at Hasbro to break barriers and build foundations, positively affecting the lives of people across the world.Mr. Hassenfeld earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He earned numerous honorary degrees from prestigious universities around the world, and has been elected to four Halls of Fame. He lived in Rhode Island, USA with his wife of 32 years.     Peter Brown Peter Brown was born in 1944 and started his career in the toy industry in 1966 with Mettoy. He went on to lead the U.S. subsidiary of Britains Petite's until 1983. He then returned to the UK, where he worked to form Tomy UK, and was involved in the establishment of brands like Silvanian Families, Zoids, and games like Pop-Up Pirate.In 1990, he joined the Fence Club and served as the Chairman in 2003/2004. He was also the Chairman of the British Toy & Hobby Association. In 2011, he was honored with the Toy Retailers Association's 'Personality of the Year award' and the Lifetime Achievement award.In 1999, he founded Flair Products, which brought many brands including Plasticine, Sticklebricks, and Sylvanian Families. Flair was acquired by Giochi Preziosi in 2008.     Torquil Norman Sir Torquil Patrick Alexander Norman was born on April 11, 1933 and passed away on March 19, 2025. He was a British businessman, aircraft enthusiast, and arts philanthropist.He studied at Eton College, Harvard University, and Trinity College, Cambridge, served his Natinoal Service in the Fleet Air Arm, and worked as an investment banker in the United States for 11 years before returning to the United Kingdom and making his entré into the toy industry. He started out as the chief executive of Berwick Timpo toy company, but in 1980 founded Bluebird Toys, the company that created the Big Yellow Teapot House, the Big Red Fun Bus, and the Polly Pocket line of dolls.     Mike Wood Mike Wood was born on September 1, 1952 and passed away on April 10, 2025. Mike was best known for his role as the founder of LeapFrog.Mike attended Stanford for his undergraduate degree, and later attended the Haas School of Business to earn his MBA and US Law San Francisco to earn his JD. From 1978 - 1991, he practices corporate law at Reed Smith, and then from 1991 - 1994, he was a partner at Cooley LLP.After quitting, he founded LeapFrog Enterprises in 1995 and launched the LeapPad, perhaps the company's most notable product in 1999. Mike was the CEO of LeapFrog from March 2022 - February 2004. He was the Vice Chairman from September 1997 - September 1, 2004, when he retired.Mike married Susan Cotter in 1985 and they had one child together, Mat. They later divorced and Mike married Leslie Harlander in 2021. Mike was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and died by assisted suicide in Switzerland surrounded by his family.     Howard J. Morrison Howard Morrison was born in 1932 and passed away in 2025 at the age of 92.Howard was an inventor at heart, and his passion for creating as a means of problem solving began at a young age, when he found himself in need of transportation and built a motorcycle from salvaged parts.Throughout his life, he invented many successful toys, including Simon, the light and sound memory game, the Mickey Mouse telephone, and other iconic games and elements of other toys and games.Howard was inducted into the Toy Industry Association Hall of Fame in 1998, and received a Toy and Game Inventor Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.     Richard Weintraub Richard Weintraub was born on September 25, 1947 and passed away on August 22, 2025. From a young age, Richard knew he would find a career in the toy industry, as his father, Lionel Weintraub was the President of Ideal Toys.Richie’s journey began at Ideal, and from there he made his mark at Galoob, Tyco, and finally Mattel, where he spent the bulk of his career as Senior Vice President of Research & Development. During his time at Galoob, Richie spent ten formative years in Hong Kong, expanding his horizons and deepening his global perspective.Outside of the toy industry, Richard was also a musician. He played in bands and performed in karaoke bars in all the cities he lived in. He was also a technology whiz: after retiring from toys, he was an Apple Genius at the Genius Bar in Manhattan.     Norman J. Lewis Norman was born on October 2, 1927 and passed away on October 29, 2025. He was the co-founder of LJN Toys, which he founded with Jack Friedman. LJN became one of the first toy companies to use TV. movie, and personality licensing with big names like Rookies, SWAT, Emergency, Betsy Clark, Disney, Gumby and many others.Norman was married to Loretta Varon Lewis—they shared over 50 years together. They also raised three sons together, and went on to become grandparents to nine and great-grandparents to three. Outside of the toy industry, Norman loved golf, traveling, and spending time with his family.     Leigh Anne Brodsky Leigh Anne Brodsky was born on February 26, 1958 and passed away on October 3, 2025. Leigh Anne grew up in Glen View, IL, and Wyckoff, NJ, and went to Holy Cross for college. After graduating, she joined United Media, which began her career in licensing. She is most well known for her role as President of Consumer Products for Nickelodeon, where she led the company's purchase of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nickelodeon's first acquired property. She also worked on brands including Dora the Explorer, Spongebob, South Park, and Beavis and Butthead.In 2011, she was inducted into the Licensing Industry Hall of Fame. Under her leadership, Nickelodeon earned more than 35 industry awards including top licensing and Parent’s Choice honors in the toy, video, interactive gaming and apparel categories, according to Licensing International.Leigh Anne leaves behind a loving husband and two wonderful children.     Judith “Judy” Blau Judith was born in 1938 and passed away on May 4, 2025 at the age of 87.Age the age of 7, Judith fell ill with rheumatic fever and needed surgery on both of her legs, resulting in being confined to her bed for two years. This is where her creativity began to grow. She drew pictures of her surroundings, created small wearable yarn dolls, and paper doll fashions. Her entrepreneurial spirit started here, too: each day she sold her work on the sidewalk for a nickel.In the 1970s, Judith was working as an artist, but when finances were low, she started hand painting designed on denim jeans and kaftans to sell at boutiques.One day, she was at a local bagel store when she remembered her grandfather, who owned and operated a bagel store, used to draw funny faces on stale bagels for her Mom. Inspired by the idea, she asked the baker to make small bagels and drew faces on them, connected them with string, and sent her daughter off the school wearing the necklace.Around the same time, she was gearing up for an interview with UPI about painting on denim. Her husband dared her to sell the bagel necklaces to Bloomingdales, and to everyone's surprise, he ordered one hundred of them! She was deemed "The Bagel Lady" and spent her days filling orders.A Children's Editor from McGraw Hill invited her to lunch and told Judith they wanted her to write a children's book, and so "The Bagel Baker of Mulliner Lane," based off of her grandfather, came to be.Her monopoly in the bagel fashion/book industry turned into a monopoly in the toy industry, too. She had Bagel happy Family of Elephantagel bagels and Pigagel bagels in plush designs, which led her to Knickerbocker Toys. There, she was encouraged to start investing toys.Judith invented Puppet Sheet Theater, Bedkins, Beside Buddies, Treetures, Sweetie Pops, Baby Check-Up doll, and many many more toys for Hasbro, Mattel, and a few other toy companies throughout the span of her career. She's also written, illustrated, and/or developed 15 children's books and designed some children's bedding.In 1986, she received the Hasbro Inventors' Hall of Fame Award.     Mario Pasin Mario Pasin was born on February 6, 1930 and passed away on August 18, 2025. Mario attended Notre Dame for college, and in the 1960s, he inherited his father's company, Radio Flyer, which he proudly led from the 1960s through the 1990s. In 1959, he married Mary Kay, and the pair shared 66 years of marriage, 5 children, 9 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Mario will be remembered for his kindness, patience, humility, generosity, and love for all things Radio Flyer.     Burt Meyer Burt Meyer was born on April 18, 1926 and passed away on October 30, 2025. He is best known for his toy and game inventions, including Lite Brite, Mouse Trap, and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Burt graduated from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1952. He worked as a design director and teacher at the Atlanta Art Institute and also designed trade show displays, cabinets, and jukeboxes. In 1960, Burt joined Marvin Glass & Associates, where he invited Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Lite-Brite, and Mouse Trap, among other toys and games. After leaving Marvin Glass in the mid 1980s, he started his own firm: Meyer/Glass Design. During this time period, he created the Pretty Pretty Princess board game; Catch Phrase, a word-guessing game; and Gooey Louie, which invited children to pick “gooeys” out of Louie’s nose. Burt was married to Marcia "Kass" Meyer, who passed in 2001. Together they had three children, six grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.     Julien Mayot Julien Mayot passed away in November 2025. He was one of the co-founders of Blue Orange Games, and was heavily involved in the design and sale of Gobblet, the first Blue Orange game. At the beginning, he took a three-month road trip across the country, covering 22,000 miles and visiting 500 stores with a jeep packed with 1,000 Gobblet games. The trip and the subsequent 10,000 games sale marked the official start of the business. He had a passion for creativity and kindness, and is fondly remembered by all those who knew him.     John Hales John Hales, co-founder of Golden bear Toys, passed away at the age of 85 in January 2025. John founded Golden Bear on February 12th, 1979 with his business partner Christine Nicholls. John did a lot throughout his career, including launching the Teletubbies toy range, which one Toy of the Year in 1997. He also received a lifetime achievement award from the British Toy & Hobby Association. John was also very active in the horse racing world, known as one of the leading British-based jumps owners of the last 40 years. He's owned many of the award-winning horses of the years, including his first winner in 1993, One Man, and 2012 Grand National winner Neptune Collonges.     Matilde Brualdi Clementoni Originally from Pesaro in Italy, Matilde moved to Recanti to pursue an entrepreneurial dream. She and her husband, Mario, co-founded Clementoni, a family owned Italian business specializing in toys and games. In the late 1990s, Matilde and Mario left their business to their four children, who still head the company.The first board game and the founding of Clementoni came in the early 1960s, and has only grown since then, holding true to the mantra that began with Matilde and Mario: "to stir emotions in children as they grow through play."   Click here to view the In Memoriam video from the 2025 TAGIEs.

Cats & Boxes   Gameplay Cats & Boxes is another single player puzzle game brought to you by Smart Games! This logic puzzle, as the name suggests, prompts you to find each cat a box to call home. There’s 60 challenges at five different difficulty levels to choose from, meaning this game, like IQ Circle, is fit for any age.   To begin, set up the game board according to one of the diagrams within the Starter, Junior, Expert, Master, or Wizard levels. The diagram will show you where to put the cats, which cannot be moved, and where to put the puzzle pieces, which have one or two boxes on each piece, that must be moved in order to cover each cat. You can only move one puzzle piece at a time, and the puzzle pieces can’t overlap.   For an added challenge, the instruction booklet will also provide a target number of moves, which shows you the minimum number of moves you can make to solve the puzzle. At the back of the booklet, you’ll find the answer key: where the puzzle pieces end up and what moves to make to get to that point. Some of the earlier challenges only take four moves, while later in the Master and Wizard levels, it could take you upwards of 30 moves.   History Cats & Boxes is brought to you by Smart Games! The game was released in 2022 and was designed by Raf Peeters. Raf attended SHIVKV-Genk for university and graduated with a Master in Industrial Design. His senior year, he needed a mentor for his graduation project, which is how he met the founders of Smart Toys & Games. He’s now worked at Smart Toys & Games for nearly 30 years. Raf lives in Lier, a small city in Belgium, with his wife and two sons.