Cris Lehman, co-founder and CFO of University Games passed away on January 31, 2026 from complications in his treatment for pancreatic cancer. Cris was 69 years old.

Cris and I met freshman year at Colorado College in 1974. I was impressed by the tan, big smile and puca shells around Cris’s neck. He was the stereotype of an LA surfer even though he actually grew up in Pasadena and never did more than a little body surfing. The nickname LA stuck from that first week and for the next 50 years he was known as LA. He was my best friend and I introduced him to his wife, was in his wedding and am Godfather to his oldest daughter. We ran the company together and worked in the same room for 12 years. He was the “back office” for University Games and I was the University Games portal to the industry. The Company needed both of us to succeed and we were a formidable team in the early years. LA ended up graduating from UC Berkeley with a business degree in 1978. He took a job at Price Waterhouse where he focused on both tax and audit for the next 7 years. Then he left his partner-track career to start University Games on April 1, 1985.

LA had many interesting philosophies about life and business. One was that he didn’t want to wait until he was 70 years old to retire. He believed that a “well lived life” was one where one took retirement in installments. In his 20s, he and his wife, Melinda left the US and lived in Singapore for two years. Then in 1997 at 40 years old he “retired” from University Games moved to New Zealand and spent 6 years with his three young children. Upon returning to University Games in 2003 he was very clear that his next retirement would be at 60. Sure, enough in 2015 LA sold his University Games stock and abruptly retired again. It was a brilliant strategy to live a full life, see the world and get to spend years of quality time with his family. Another philosophy was his attitude about University Games and its role in his life. Often when friends or relatives run a business together they have to choose whether to save the friendship or the business when reality hits. From day 1 LA always said that we should choose our friendship over the business…and we did. Each new employee or investor was notified that University Games was a company that put friendship first.

LA was truly one of a kind. His smile and unassuming manner and total lack of ego made  an engaging CFO in a world where often the financial chief is too serious and lacking in a “toy industry” personality. In today’s turbulent times LA stood out as a gentleman who was more concerned with how he treated people than how he could get ahead in life. A great role model for all of us. University Games will miss him, the industry will miss him, his wife and three children will miss him and anyone that ever met him will miss him.