Maxine Clark, Founder & Former Chief Executive Bear, Build-A-Bear Workshop;
Sharon DiMinico, Founder & Chair, Learning Express Toys; and
Professor Erno Rubik, Inventor, Rubik’s Cube
to be Honored at Toy of the Year® Awards February 28

NEW YORK, NY | October 29, 2024 — From inventing the world’s most iconic puzzle, to creating a first-of-its-kind interactive toy retail experience, to taking specialty toy stores to unprecedented heights, inductees of the 2025 Toy Industry Hall of Fame have left a lasting impact on the toy industry. The Toy Association™ today announced the seven trailblazers who will join the esteemed Hall of Fame: Maxine Clark, founder & former chief executive bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop; Sharon DiMinico, founder & chair of Learning Express Toys; and Professor Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube. The Hall of Fame’s posthumous inductees include Edwin S. Lowe, founder of the E.S. Lowe and Company; Charles Pajeau, founder of the Toy Tinker Company & inventor of Tinkertoy; Marty Scheman, CEO of Illco Toy & President of Tyco-Preschool; and Izannah Walker, American dollmaker & inventor.

This year's living Hall of Fame inductees were nominated and voted on by members of The Toy Association in recognition of their significant contributions to the industry and the impact they have had on the lives of children through a lifelong commitment to toys and play. They will join an impressive roster of 91 toy industry luminaries across manufacturing, retail, licensing, and more who have been inducted into the Hall since it was established in 1984, including those who brought to life Mickey Mouse (Walt Disney), Barbie (Ruth and Elliot Handler), The Muppets (Jim Henson), Marvel (Stan Lee), and more.

“When you look at the legacies these three toy giants have created, from sparking a global puzzle craze to unlocking a child’s imagination by making their very own teddy bear and empowering neighborhood toy store owners, Maxine Clark, Sharon DiMinico, and Erno Rubik have forever transformed our industry through their shared vision and passion for toys, innovation, and the joy of learning,” said Greg Ahearn, president & CEO of The Toy Association.

The posthumous inductees (Lowe, Pajeau, Scheman, and Walker) were first recommended as part of a slate of well-researched candidates brought forth by the Hall of Fame Subcommittee on Posthumous Selection, which considered diversity in company, area of contribution, ethnicity, gender, and lasting impact on the toy industry. The nominees were then voted on by the Hall of Fame Committee and the four inductees were approved by The Toy Association Board of Directors. The process for selecting posthumous inductees helps to ensure the recognition of any deserving person who has contributed to the U.S. toy industry since 1800 who might have been overlooked in previous years.

"The Toy Association is proud to posthumously induct Edwin S. Lowe, Charles Pajeau, Marty Scheman, and Izannah Walker," Ahearn said. "We honor their lasting legacies, iconic creations, and extraordinary achievements. May their contributions continue to inspire future generations of toy inventors, designers, and visionaries. We look forward to celebrating all of the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees at the Toy of the Year Awards ceremony in February!"

The 2025 Toy Industry Hall of Fame inductees will be honored during The Toy Foundation’s 25th Toy of the Year® (TOTY®) Awards on Friday, February 28, 2025. The Toy Industry Hall of Fame lives alongside the National Toy Hall of Fame in a special exhibit at The Strong museum in Rochester, NY.

ABOUT THE 2025 INDUCTEES
For more information,
please visit toyassociation.org/HOF

Living Inductee
Maxine Clark, Founder & Former Chief Executive Bear, Build-A-Bear Workshop
Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop, revolutionized both the toy and retail industries by pioneering the “retail-tainment” store concept more than 25 years ago. Now a globally recognized brand, Build-A-Bear Workshop has sold more than 200 million furry friends and generated over $5 billion in cumulative revenue. Inspired by her own childhood connection with a teddy bear, Clark sought to create an emotional bond between children and their stuffed animals. This led to the famous Build-A-Bear process, where owners can choose, stuff, dress, and name their furry friends, accompanied by a signature "heart ceremony" that brings the plush animal to life through a unique bonding experience.

Understanding that the hug of a teddy bear would lead to an emotional brand connection, Clark started an outbound licensing program in order to expand the Build-A-Bear brand into other toy, consumer product, and entertainment categories. The company has also incorporated cause-related lines in which a portion of the proceeds have been donated to charity, as well as licensed partnerships with popular entertainment properties, fashion brands, and culturally relevant organizations to expand its brand presence beyond its traditional roots.

Clark also established the Build-A-Bear Foundation, which has donated more than $18 million to deserving causes and provided hundreds of thousands of plush friends to those in need. Her philanthropic work extends to the Clark-Fox Family Foundation, where she serves as CEO. Clark has received numerous awards and recognition as a testament to the tremendous impact she has had throughout her career.

Living Inductee
Sharon DiMinico, Founder & Chair, Learning Express Toys
Sharon DiMinico, founder & CEO of Learning Express Toys, has devoted most of her career to the toy industry, building an empire of neighborhood toy stores throughout the U.S. What started in 1987 as a fundraiser for the Groton Nursery School in Massachusetts to provide resources to children and supplement the school's revenue, evolved into the nation's leading franchisor of specialty toy stores with over 90 locations.

DiMinico has helped hundreds of people realize their dreams of small business ownership and has brought play to children in communities nationwide. Among the company’s key innovations are the Easter Bunny Buffet Marketing Program; the Children’s Birthday Box Gift Registry; special product exclusives; first-to-market items like the Rainbow Loom phenomenon; and the Skill Builders program (educating customers and communities about the benefits of toys and screen-free play). In the early 2000s, she also created a franchise council of current stores to offer guidance to franchise owners and invite feedback to continually improve the business. The council continues to this day.

Learning Express partners with Toys for Tots and other charities throughout the holidays to deliver toys to kids in need, and DiMinico spearheads the organization of product donations at the close of every Learning Express annual convention to donate to a local children’s charity. Learning Express stores donate tens of thousands of dollars in supplies, donations, and gifts to their local communities each year.

Living Inductee
Professor Erno Rubik, Inventor, Rubik’s Cube
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Erno Rubik was just a child when he became obsessed with puzzles. While working as a professor of design at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in Budapest, he carried his passion into adulthood, spurring the assembly of the very first version of the Rubik’s Cube, the Magic Cube, in 1974. Within two years of its premiere at the 1979 Nuremberg Toy Fair and with a global distribution deal with Ideal Toy & Novelty Company that rebranded the puzzle as the Rubik’s Cube, it became a phenomenon with 100 million cubes sold. Today, more than 500 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold worldwide. It was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2014 and remains one of the top-selling toys of all time.

Through his original invention and others (the Rubik’s Snake, Rubik’s Magic, and the Rubik’s Tangle), Rubik has encouraged everyone to embrace their inner curiosity. The Rubik’s Cube has gone on to spawn many puzzle-themed extensions, foster hundreds of spin-off products, and inspire speed competitions in more than 50 countries. Rubik also worked with the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey to create a touring exhibition, Beyond Rubik’s Cube, designed to merge learning and playfulness.

Rubik also established a charitable foundation in 1982 to help inventors and designers find investment partners for their ideas and to help design students travel abroad to discover the world of design. His philanthropic work also extends to museums, science centers, and academic institutions around the world.

Posthumous Inductee
Edwin S. Lowe, Founder, E.S. Lowe and Company
Edwin S. Lowe immigrated from Poland and started his career in sales and promotion. His great strength was in seeing trends and ways to promote products. In 1929, he took the game of “Beano,” which he spotted at a Georgia carnival, and transformed it into “Bingo,” now a household name and a game that is still played today. He repositioned the game as a fundraising tool and introduced it to churches and non-profits. His company produced all the game’s components, elevating the E.S. Lowe Company to new heights. He also brought Yahtzee to retailer’s shelves in 1954, creating the No. 1 selling dice game (for 70 years). These are just two of the dozens of hits that Lowe introduced before selling his company to Milton Bradley in 1973. His games continue to be offered by Hasbro today.

Posthumous Inductee
Charles Pajeau, Founder, Toy Tinker Company & Inventor, Tinkertoy
In 1914, Charles H. Pajeau formed the Toy Tinker Company in Evanston, Illinois, to manufacture and market Tinkertoy sets. Pajeau, a stonemason, designed the toy after seeing children play with sticks and empty spools of thread. He partnered with Robert Petit, a stockbroker, to market a toy that would allow and inspire children to use their imaginations. After an initially slow start, over a million were sold in their first year of production. Tinkertoy sets continued to spark the imagination of children, and Pajeau and Petit influenced the construction toy category for the next century, helping kids to learn by exercising what we now think of as “spatial intelligence.” Pajeau focused on toy inventions for the rest of his life. Playskool acquired Tinkertoy in 1985 and redesigned the toy in 1992 in honor of its 80th anniversary. Basic Fun! now owns the U.S. rights for the brand. Tinkertoy sets were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play in 1998.

Posthumous Inductee
Marty Scheman, CEO, Illco Toy & President, Tyco-Preschool
Marty Scheman started importing from China in the early 1960s and served as a pioneer in building a Letter of Credit (FOB) business out of China. As CEO of Illco Toy, he played an instrumental role in building the toy licensing business in the 1980s and 1990s, launching Disney wind-up toys and early forms of action figures. He also acquired the Sesame Street license and developed a line of toys around the Sesame Street and Muppet characters. In 1992, he sold the company to Tyco and became the President of Tyco-Preschool. Marty continued to manage the newly named Tyco Playtime and Preschool business until 1996. He was involved in the early days of Tickle Me Elmo, which became one of the top selling toys of the 20th century.

Posthumous Inductee
Izannah Walker, American dollmaker and inventor
Izannah Walker was an American dollmaker and inventor. While the dolls she designed and created are not household names, her creations have become sought-out collector's items, selling for as much as $62,000 today. More than just a dollmaker, she was a Renaissance woman in the 19th century; she was also a writer, skilled carpenter, engineer, and the designer of a parlor heater. Walker was issued one of the first patents for doll construction focused on how the doll stuffing was filled in the doll. She devoted more than 50 years to dollmaking as well as pursuing her other interests. Her lasting contribution is her early use of realistic baby faces in her doll designs.

In 1984, the Toy Industry Hall of Fame was established to recognize the people who have brought the value of play to the lives of children and adults. Every year for nearly four decades, members of the industry have proudly nominated hundreds of men and women — from toy inventors to toy retailers — who have made their mark on the industry and created a love of play in the hearts of children of all ages.

Founded in 1916, The Toy Association™, Inc. is the business trade association representing all businesses involved in creating and delivering toys and youth entertainment products for kids of all ages. The Toy Association leads the health and growth of the U.S. toy industry, which has an annual U.S. economic impact of $102.8 billion, and its roughly 900 members drive the annual $41 billion U.S. domestic toy market. The Toy Association serves as the industry’s voice on the developmental benefits of play and promotes play’s positive impact on childhood development. The organization has a long history of leadership in toy safety, having helped develop the first comprehensive toy safety standard more than 40 years ago, and remains committed to working with medical experts, governments, consumers, and the industry on ongoing programs to ensure safe and fun play.

As a global leader, The Toy Association produces the world-renowned Toy Fair™ in New York City; hosts marketplace activities in Los Angeles; engages in state, federal, and international advocacy on behalf of its members; supports the inventor and design community through People of Play™ and its numerous assets and events, including the consumer-facing Chicago Toy & Game Fair; sustains the Canadian Toy Association; acts as secretariat for the International Council of Toy Industries and International Toy Industry CEO Roundtable; and chairs the committee that reviews and revises America’s widely emulated ASTM F963 toy safety standard. The Toy Association’s philanthropic arm is The Toy Foundation™, a 501 (c)(3) children's charity that acts as the uniting force for the collective philanthropy of the toy industry. To date, The Toy Foundation has delivered the joy of play to 32 million children in need worldwide.