Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Beth Schlansky was born on September 29, 1953 and passed away on July 29, 2024. Beth graduated from Queens College in 1976, and her first job after graduation was at Macy's Executive Training Prog...ram. In 1979, she became a merchandiser in the corporate office of British American Tobacco US. There, she worked with an array of national accounts including Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field's, Gimbels, and Kohl's. In 1986, Beth joined Spencer Gifts as Vice President of Licensing. She also played a role in the growth of Licensing International from its beginning in 1985. She was elected twice to the Board of Directors, served several years as a LIMA Retail Officer and LIMA’s first Charity Chairperson where she had the honor to have inaugurated the Licensing Industry’s Charity focus, The Hole in The Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Ct. started by Paul Newman. In 2006, Beth started her own company, Beth Schlansky, Inc., where she was a licensing agent offering support and consulting services for licensors, manufacturers, and retailers. Beth leaves behind a loving husband, George Velasco, and will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved her.Show more

Susan Wojcicki was born on July 5, 1968 and passed away on August 9, 2024 after a two year battle with lung cancer. She was the CEO of YouTube from 2014 - 2023 and was one of the first Google employee...s. Susan became Google employee #16 in September 1998 when she rented out her garage to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. She joined the team working on the initial marketing programs, helped create the logo, and co-developed and launched Google Image Search. She was eventually promoted to Google's senior vice president of Advertising & Commerce. In February 2014, Susan became the CEO of YouTube, and was named "the most important person in advertising" and one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2015. While CEO, the company developed 10 forms of monetization for YouTube creators, including channel memberships, merchandise, BrandConnect, and paid digital goods like Super Chat. She also launched YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. Susan tightened YouTube's policy on videos it regards as potentially violating its policies on hate speech and violent extremism, and emphasized educational content as a priority. On February 16, 2023, Wojcicki announced her resignation from YouTube via a company blog post, citing her desire to focus on family, health, and personal projects. Susan was married to Dennis Troper, director of product management at Google, and together they had 5 children.Show more

Eugene "Gene" Hendel was born on August 17, 1943 and passed away on June 30, 2024. Gene spent 5 decades in the toy industry, at first working for companies like Kenner, Mattel, Hasbro, and Tiger El...ectronics before launching his own company, Gene Hendel Associates. Gene loved his family and his pets deeply. He was an active member of his community, West Chester. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Joshua Carter, known to his friends by the loving nicknames Rod, Rodimus, and Josh, was born on February 29, 1984 and passed away on June 11, 2024. Josh owned Rodimus Toys, where he sold vintage t...oys and action figures. He made his passion his work, captivated from a young age by the world of action figures. Josh loved going to yard sales to hunt for vintage treasures, enjoyed listening to music, playing pranks, drawing, and singing. He leaves behind his loving fiancée, Julie Dreyer, and their beloved cats, Finn and Midnight.Show more

Glyn Davies passed away on November 20, 2020 after catching COVID-19. Glyn spent many years in the toy industry as a representative and national account executive for several toy companies, includi...ng Blue Box, Rainbow, Fisher Price, and more. He attended trade shows and stock rooms all over the world, and was known for his extroverted and friendly personality. He leaves behind his wife, Liz, two daughters, Lisa and Rachael, and three granddaughters, Amelia, Sophia, and Emily.Show more

Francis Spear was born into a Jewish toy trade family -- his great grandfather, Jacob Wolf Spear, started J.W. Spear & Soehne in 1878. When Francis joined Spears' Games, he worked in a number of di...fferent departments, but his true passion was for the production side of the business. He eventually took on the role of production director, then became managing director and then chairman. In 1994, the company was sold to Mattel and Francis took that opportunity to purchase farmland in Hertfordshire, England. In his retirement, Francis followed his passion for flying, and actually donated his first plane to the Kenyan flying doctors. He was also a musician, and sung in the Hertford Choir for many years. He loved mountain hiking, skiing, and managed the Spear's Games Archive at his home, where he received local groups and games enthusiasts from around the world. In 2010, he was approached by Nuremberg council to set up a Spear's Games Archive in Germany, where he was born. In 2017, the Spear's Games collection was transferred to Nuremberg, where it is still visited today.Show more

Diana Green passed away on December 13, 2020 after a short illness. She has been a figurehead in the toy industry since the 1970s, spending most of this time as a buying director for Greens Toymaster.... Along with her husband, Geoff, Diana selected ranges for the Snowfold buying group's FOB important programme, which supported members ranges and margins from the late 1980s. Later, she served as a member of Toymaster's Merchandise Committee for many years, as the Greens Toymaster chain expanded to a total of 17 stores. Diana loved traveling with her husband Geoff, and leaves behind the two sons they shared, Ben and Tom. She will be deeply and dearly missed by all that knew and loved her.Show more

Mercedeh Ward was born on April 14, 1964 and passed away on July 3, 2020. She was an active member of the toy and game industry for over 35 years. Mercedeh was a mechanical engineer and worked for ...numerous companies, including Mattel, Playmates, Spin Master, Funrise, and more. She was an expert at product development and made major contributions to hugely influential brands like Barbie, Bratz, and Paw Patrol. Mercedeh fought an admirable fight against breast cancer. She leaves behind a loving family, and will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.Show more

Clive Wooster, toy industry icon, passed away at the age of 69 on May 18, 2024. Clive began his career in the toy industry at Fisher Price, where he spent many years working in different sales rol...es. In the 1990s, he ran The First Years until RC2/Learning Curve acquired it in 2004, at which point he became the managing director. Next, Clive chose to join smaller companies, working as a manager at Famosa and more recently, at Geomagworld. It wasn't until January of this year that he decided to take a step back to spend more time with family and pursuing his passion for motor racing. Clive always participated in charitable events both within and outside of the toy industry. He especially enjoyed events that combined his love for walking and cycling -- he once walked 52 miles over the course of 2 days to raise money for Braintrust. Outside of the toy industry, Clive liked to fill his days with motorsport and football. He was an active racer at BARC Speed Championship for over 20 years and served as an instructor at Thruxton. He always made sure to watch the Saints whenever they played. Clive leaves behind his wife of 39 years, Heather, and their two daughters, Louise and Katie. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

The prolific inventor passed peacefully on June 20 at his home in France, surrounded by love and family, The Post can exclusively reveal.

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