Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Ron Stuart, President of Learning Wrap-ups, passed away on June 22, 2023. Stuart attended Weber State College, where he met his wife, Christine Fackrell. In the early 1980s, Stuart and his mother ...founded Learning Wrap-ups, a company he was passionate about throughout his entire life. Through his effort, Learning Wrap-ups was a successful, impactful company that helped children master basic math facts. Above all, Stuart valued his family and creating relationships with people in all areas of his life.Show more

Emile Morel, creative director of Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil 2, passed away at age 40 in July of 2023. Morel started his career at Ubisoft over 14 years ago as a game designer. Aside from Beyond... Good & Evil 2, he worked on Rayman Legends and Rayman Fiesta Run. Prior to Unisoft, Morel worked for four years at Eden Games, working on titles including Test Drive Unlimited 2, The Adventures of Tintin: The Game, and Alone in the Dark.Show more

Dr. Doris Mae Bergen was born on February 11, 1932 and passed away on July 5, 2023. Dr. Bergen was a professor of Educational Psychology at Miami University. She has written numerous books and earned ...dozens of national honors. Many of her papers are stored in the Archives at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. In 2019, she was inducted into the Senior Citizens Hall of Fame. Dr. Bergen attended Heidelberg College and Ohio State University before getting her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Michigan State University at age 42. Dr. Bergen was active with the Hamilton Tree Board and was an active member of her church, the Hopedale UU Community.Show more

Simon Hedge was born on August 26, 1996 and passed away on June 20, 2023 after a short battle with cancer. He was the former managing director of Flair Leisure Products, the company he co-founded with... Peter Brown 24 years ago. Hedge began his career in the toy industry in the early 1990s when he joined Hasbro. In 1995, Hedge joined Peter Brown and Russ Ward at K'Nex, where he managed the supply chain and operations. Shortly before founding Flair, Hedge found himself working for Hasbro again. In the beginning of Flair, Hedge worked as the commercial director overseeing marketing and operations. Within 5 years, Flair became a "Sunday Times Fast track 100" and was named Company of the Year at the 2004 Toy Fair industry awards. In 2009, Flair won Supplier of the Year and Girls' Toy of the year for Sylvanian Families. In 2011, Flair became the No. 4 toy company in the UK. In 2013, Hedge became the managing director of Flair, and held this position for 8 years. In 2021, he left the business and started working at Singleton Trading. Simon Hedge will be missed by many: family, friends, and colleagues.Show more

John Cook passed away on June 28th 2023. A model maker and toy inventor, he worked at Mattel, Kenner and Playskool. He worked on Hot Wheels playsets, Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, Play Doh, Carci ...doll and much more. He founded John Cook Toy Designs over thirty years ago, where did built models and designed toys.Show more

Liam Smyth, one of the co-founders of Smyths Toys Superstores, passed away in July of 2023. He and his brothers, Tony, Padraig, and Tommie grew the business from one small shop in Claremorris into one... of Europe's biggest specialist toy chains. Smyth was a supporter of the Claremorris Gaelic athletic Association and was known as a leading figure in the business life of the town.Show more

John Gibson, British game developer and programmer, passed away in July of 2023. After teaching himself to write machine code on a ZX81 computer, Gibson began his career at Imagine Software in 1983. W...hile at Imagine, he designed several games including Molar Maul, Zzoom, and Stonkers. After working at Imagine, Gibson co-founded Denton Designs, where he released Gift from the Gods, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Cosmic Wartoad, Gibson spent a few years doing freelance work. In 1990, he joined Psygnosis, where he programmed Microcosm and Sentient, then spent some time at Warthog Games before joining Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, where he spent the remainder of his career until his death. At Sony, Gibson was a part of the Evolution Studios team. He worked on numerous games, including WRC4, WRC: Rally Evolved, Motorstorm, Pacific Rift, Apocalypse, RC, and Driveclub. At the time of his death, Gibson was retired and living in Thailand with his wife and pet dog.Show more

Jesse Horowitz was an American toy inventor. He was the creator and designer of the Johnny Eagle line, Johnny Speed Line, Silly Safari game, and Suzy Cute doll. He was also involved in the creation of... various other toys and games, including Stretch Armstrong, Strawberry Shortcake, and Care Bears. His skills were wide and varied, including graphic design, architectural sketches, oil painting, silkscreen prints, watercolor drawings, sculpture, ceramics, and photography. Horowitz graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Industrial Design degree. He also studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art and Wayne State University. Throughout his career he worked in many different roles, including head of Industrial Design for Kenner Toy Company and Director of Design for the MAD East group. He also worked independently, collecting clients such as Disney on Ice, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, Takaram Galoob, Playwell, Just Toys, and Little Tikes. In college, he won First Prize in an Industrial Design content sponsored by RCA's Major Weapons Systems Division for a NASA space shot control room environment that incorporated a modular desk system. He also one the Grand Award in Chain Store Age Magazine's VASPA competition for his package design on the Penny Brite beauty line. Horowitz was also an avid SCUBA diver and held a 6th degree black belt in karate.Show more

Paul Reubens was born on August 27, 1952 and passed away on July 30, 2023 after a private battle with cancer. He was an American actor and comedian, most famous for creating and playing the character ...Pee-wee Herman. Reubens' career began in the 1970s when he joined the troupe the Groundlings. In 1981, he debuted The Pee-wee Herman Show, and was committed to this character for decades: produced and wrote a feature film directed by Tim Burton, and co-wrote and starred in the Netflix film Pee-wee's Big Holiday. He was also in various shows such as Murphy Brown, 30 Rock, Portlandia, and The Blacklist.Show more

Darren Watts passed away on December 31, 2022 at the age of 53, according to a post from Hero Games.Watts had been in the games industry for decades as an RPG author, editor, developer, and publisher.... In 2001, he and Stephen Long purchased the assets of Hero Games, which included the rights to Champions and the Hero System game line, from Cybergames, Inc. through their company DOJ Inc. Watts then became the President of Hero Games. From there, Watts produced several Champions books including Champions Universe, Champions Worldwide, and Champions Universe II. He also co-designed Galactic Champions, Millennium City, and Lucha Libre Hero. Watts left Hero Games in 2011. He continued to write and work fror other RPG companies, including Chaosium, and produced Darren Watts's Golden Age Champions, which was published through High Rock Press, in 2017. He also designed We Rate Dogs: The Card Game, published by Chronicle Books. Later, he worked as a consultant for Double Exposure conventions (Metatopia, Dreamation, DexCon, and Maelstrom). Many of his colleagues have spoken publicly and privately of Watts' kind heart, community spirit, and help to other RPG designers. He will be missedShow more