Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Shigeichi Negishi was born on November 29, 1923 and passed away on January 26, 2024. He was a Japanese engineer and entrepreneur who invented the first karaoke machine. Shigeichi was born in Tokoy...o and studied economics at Hosei University. He was drafted into the Japanese Army during World War 2, and after their defeat, was held as a prisoner of war in Singapore for 2 years. After his release, Shigeichi sold Olympus cameras and later founded the consumer electronics company Nichiden Kogyo in 1956. The story of the karaoke machine is an interesting one. Shigeichi was singing to himself at work in 1967 when an employee teased him for his bad voice. Convinced he would sound better with a backing track, he and his staff wired together a speaker, microphone, and a tape deck. To market the product, he partnered with the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation and travelled throughout Japan giving demonstrations. The machine was dubbed the Sparko Box. However, he never patented Sparko Box, and other inventors such as Daisuke Inoue have created similar products and have received credit for inventing the karaoke machine.Show more

Terry Hess, longtime environment artist for Obsidian Entertainment, passed away in early March of 2024. Prior to working at Obsidian Entertainment, Terry worked for a bumber of different companies,... including BlackOps Entertainment, Manifest Games, Treyarch, and Visceral Games. Some of the titles he worked on include Spider-Man 3, 007: Quantum of Solace, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel. Terry started at Obsidian in April of 2013 working on Armored Warfare. After establishing himself as a technical environment artist, he joined The Outer Worlds 1 team. He was one of the main contributors to one of the earliest demos of Private Division. Terry was the Lead Environment Artist for The Outer Worlds 2, and took his role very seriously, pushing his team to excel. As the game continues to be developed, Terry's passion for art and excellence will be carried on by his team.Show more

Janice Burgess was born on March 1, 1952 and passed away on March 2, 2024. She was an American TV executive and producer for Nickelodeon most famous for creating the Nick Jr. series The Backyardigans.... Janice grew up in Pittsburgh and spent a great deal of time playing in her backyard, memories of which she used for inspiration for The Backyardigans. Janice graduated from Brandeis University in 1974 with a degree in art history. In the early 1990s, Janice worked for the Children's Television Workshop. This is where she heard about a job at Nickelodeon, and was soon hired as the executive in charge of production for Nick Jr. After working in this position for a while, Janice took on a more creative role, and in 2001, the idea for The Backyardigans was born. Funnily enough, it started out as a full-body puppet show in 1998, but was reimagined with animation in 2001 and set to premiere in October 2004 with a 20-episode season. The Backyardigans was a hit, and Janice served as the executive producer throughout its four season run. The series received 8 Daytime Emmy Award nominations and Janice herself won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program. After the fourth and final season came and went, Janice and a number of other people who worked on Backyardigans began working on Nickelodeon's Winx Club. Janice worked as a writer, story editor, and creative consultant.Show more

Robby Kanoff, former executive vice president of sales at Galoob Toys passed away on September 16, 2021. Robby started his career in the toy industry in 1978 as national sales manager at Lewis Galo...ob Toys—he was only 23 years old at the time. He played a key role in transitioning Galoob from an importer of toys to a maker of toys, which led to licensed products inspired by Universal’s The A-Team, WCW, the Spice Girls, and more alongside original brands, including Micro Machines, Baby Face Dolls, and more. After leaving Galoob, where he got the nickname "Jewish Lightning," he was one of the founders of The Original San Francisco Toymakers and re-acquired the license to produce WCW action figures followed by a deal with Extreme Championship Wrestling for a line of ECW toys. Robby was featured in Season 3 of The Toys That Made Us.Show more

David watt was born in Northern Ireland in 1944, and passed away in September 2021. Hw was a passionate Lego salesman and sales agent. Davis worked at Lego for over 24 years as area sales manager i...n Northern Ireland, overseeing both independent retailers and some national accounts. Davis won Top Salesman several times, winning the coveted Silver Lego Brick trophy with his name engraved on it. In 1999, David was devastated to be no longer working for Lego. However, ever the resilient individual, David decided to continue working in toys and built up substantial busiess for Schleich in Norther Ireland before retiring a few years ago. David was married to Jennie in 1972, and together they created a beautiful family of three sons and nine grandchildren. David will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.Show more

John Birchwood was born in 1940 and passed away on February 21, 2024. He was passionate about the toy industry, working in the toy trade until he was 80 years old, when he announced his retirement. ... John's entré into the toy industry was through his father, Eric Birchwood, who worked at Mobo Toys. John worked alongside him for a brief time before joining Berwick Toys as sales director, moving up in the ranks to eventually become managing director. After Berwick Toys collapsed in the early 1980s, John worked for A.B.Gee for a short period of time and then set off on his own as a sales agent with the help of his father. Together, they made up Birchwood Agencies, and represented companies like Morris Vulcan Toys, where after a few years, John went and worked. However, that didn't last more than a few years, because then John opened up World Sports Int. UK in partnership with a Taiwanese manufacturer that dealt predominantly in roller skates. For a while, World Sports Int. was the main supplier of in-line skates to mail order giants Littlewoods and GUS. Later, in 1998, John's son Richard joined up with him to open J & R Sports. They made the JD Bug Scooter in 2000 and became very popular, getting the company really up and running in 2007. In 2011, they became the distribution partner for Madd Gear the UK & Ireland: this was the start of the pro scooter market and Madd Gear was a leading player. John worked there with his son, Richard, and his daughter, Lindsay, until his 80th birthday, when he announced his retirement. Though, according to Richard, he was never very far away. He was so passionate about the industry that he always wanted to be in the know. John was a proud father, grandfather, and Manchester United fan. He will be dearly missed by all those that knew him.Show more

Darrell Burge passed away suddenly on February 10, 2021. Darrell worked at Hornby, specifically on the brand Airfix. he oversaw he revitalization of Airfix products and the brand over the last decade ...and was beloved by all his colleagues at Hornby. Darrell was also instrumental in approaching Key Publishing in 2009 with the aim of creating a new monthly AirFix-themed publication, which resulted in the Airfix Model World magazine. A product drive purely by his own passion for the brand, his memory will always be preserved in the magazine. He was also the driving force behind Airfix's agreement with South Korean manufacturer Academy to bring the latter's 1/35 armor products to the European market. Darrell is survived by his wife, Jane, and his children, Emily, Martin, and Gavin, and his granddaughter, Oriana. He will be deeply missed by friends, family, coworkers, and all those that knew him.Show more

Willi Zapf of Zapf Creation passed away in July of 2021. Willi and his wife, Brigitte Zapf, took over Zapf Creation in 1958, putting their name out there in the international doll market. Willi's lead...ership has helped mold Zapf Creation into the successful company that it is today. In 1991, Willi and Brigitte launched Baby Born, which became incredibly successful. Though Willi sold the company in 1992, he continued to lead it through success, growth, and innovation until his retirement in 1997. Andrew Laughton, who was the head of Zapf UK for many years, said this of his dear friend: "“Willi was a true gentleman. I would not have even entered the toy industry without his support and belief. A good friend of my father, together they built the Max Zapf business in the UK until he sold it over 20 years ago. I’ll be forever grateful to Willi and the entire Zapf family for their friendship and the opportunity they gave my family. His son Stefan still works at Zapf, heading up IT, so the family connection to the brand still remains. It’s poignant that 2021 is the 30th anniversary of Baby born – the brand transformed the large doll business worldwide, and it was Willi who saw the concept and believed in it from the start.”Show more

Mark Sharp passed away on February 9th, 2024. Mark was a sales agent at Brainstorm. Mark traveled a lot for work, and even met his wife while traveling in Kibbutz in the Middle East. They had two c...hildren together, and the family loved to travel. Mark's colleagues at Brainstorm have expressed their deep sadness over the loss of their friend and colleague. "He was a delight to work with and we will all miss him immensely – as will all of his customers. It hardly seems believable that we were with him all through Toy Fair, and now he has gone so suddenly," his friend Nick Saunders told Toy World.Show more

Yoshitaka Murayama passed away on Feb. 6, 2024. Yoshitaka was the creator of Eiyuden Chronicle and Suikoden, and the founder of Rabbit & Bear Studios. Yoshitaka studied computer programming studie...s at University of Tokoyo, and was hired by Konami to develop a game for an internally developed video game console. Later, Yoshitaka and a few others got to work on a RPG game for Sony's PlayStation console, which is when Suikoden was born. His bosses loved the idea, and Yoshitaka was tasked with making 108 characters mirroring the 108 outlaws in the Chinese classic Shui Hu Zhuan, the book the game was based on. It was released in 1995, and started gaining traction with fans. It probably helped that Yoshitaka personally responded to every piece of fan mail that was sent.Show more