Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

George Ditomassi, former Milton Bradley chairman and Hasbro executive, was born on October 27, 1934 and passed away on May 31, 2021. He was 86 years old. George spend over 40 years of his career at... Milton Bradley, both before and after it was acquired by Hasbro in 1984. He worked on games that are known worldwide, including Candyland, Life, and Chutes and ladders. He started out as a production trainee in 1960, and by 1970, he was Vice President of Milton Bradley and General Manager of the Whiting Division. In 1982, George joined the Board of Directors at Milton Bradley, and in 1985, was promoted to President of Milton Bradley. In 1990, he was named Chairman of Milton Bradley and COO of Games and International at Hasbro. In 2004, George was inducted into the Toy Associations Toy Industry Hall of Fame. After his time at Milton Bradley and Hasbro, George went on to become CEO of Enesco, CEO of Shop at Home Company, and CEO of Summit America Television. George also received a number of awards throughout the course of his life, including: Business West Business Person of the Year; University of Massachusetts Distinguished Alumnus Award; The Pynchon Award for Outstanding Civic Contributions; UNICO Man of the Year Award; American Cancer Society’s Omar T. Pace Award; Pioneer Valley Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award; Holyoke Community College Distinguished Service Award; Urban League Coveted Community Builder Award; Junior Achievement Free Enterprise Hall of Fame Award; and the National Conference of Human Relations Award. George was involved in many institutions from a philanthropic perspective as well. He was Chairman of the Western Massachusetts Children’s Miracle Network; National Chairman of the Child Welfare League of America; and the Corporate Fundraising Chairman of the Ronald McDonald House of Springfield. He also served as Director of the Business Friends of the Arts; as a member of the board of Directors of the Basketball Hall of Fame; a Trustee at Springfield College; a member of the UMass Chancellor’s Executive Committee; and later as a Trustee of the UMass Foundation Board. He was an incorporator of the Community United Way, a Trustee of Baystate Medical Center, Chairman of the Westmass Area Development Corporation, and an appointed member of the Inspector General Council of Massachusetts.Show more

Nick Hancock, founder and senior producer of Active Pictures, passed away on September 17, 2023, after a long battle with cancer. Nick started Active Pictures 23 years ago, and since then, he's mad...e nearly 6,000 commercials, employed hundreds of freelancers, and formed bonds with others in the industry who already miss him dearly. Some of Nick's clients included Brainstorm Toys and Leapfrog. Nick leaves behind a wife, two daughters, and two dogs, all of whom love and miss him very much.Show more

Stuart Crawford, toy industry veteran, passed away on August 19, 2021 after a prolonged illness. Stuart Crawford worked in the toy industry for over 40 years, and spent 22 of them at MV Sports and ...Leisure. His first toy industry job was in 1976 with Burbank Toys. In 1981 he moved onto Acamas Toys, in 1987, he worked at Pikit Toys, in 1992 he worked at PMS, and he found his home at MV in 1997. He worked with major and independent retails as the national account controller, and he won a Teddy award in 2018 for his contribution to the industry. He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.Show more

Akira Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955 and passed away on March 1, 2024. He was a Japanese manga artist and character designer, best known as the creator of the Dragon Ball, Sand Lord, and Dr. Slump... manga and the character design for Dragon Quest. Akira is regarded as one of the most important authors in the history of manga. Akira's first published work was Wonder Island, and it appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1978. His first real success, though, came in 1980, when he created Dr. Slump, which made him a household name. In 1983, Akira created Dragon Boy, which evolved into Dragon Ball, which is now one of the best selling manga series of all time. It led to film adaptations, video games, and merchandise. Its popularity spread all over the globe. In 1981, Akira won the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen manga with Dr. Slump, which was adapted into a successful anime series. His series, Dragon Ball, is one of the most popular and successful manga in the world, and having sold 260 million copies world wide, it is also one of the best-selling manga series of all time.Show more

James "Jim" Ward was born on May 23, 1951 and passed away on March 18, 2024 at the age of 72. He was an American game designer and fantasy author most known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons. Jim ...worked for TSR, and was one of the players in Gary Gygax's early Greyhawk games as Gygax developed the Dungeons & Dragons and game—in fact, the character Drawjim is named after him (spell Jim Ward backwards!). Jim and Rob Kuntz worked together to make Gods, Demi-Gods, & Heroes , introducing gods into the original D&D game. Ward also designed Metamorphosis Alpha, the first science-fantasy role-playing game, and co-authored Deities & Demigods. Ward also wrote Greyhawk Adventures, and along with David Cook, Steve Winter, and Mike Breault, co-wrote Ruins of Adventure, which was adapted into the game Pool of Radiance. In 1989, he was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame. Jim also designed the Spellfire collectible card game and the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game. He was the co-founder of the d2- company Fast Forward Entertainment, and was the President from 2000-2005.Show more

Mutsumi Inomata, longtime illustrator and character designer for video games, was born on December 23, 1960 and passed away on March 10, 2024 at 63 years old. Mutsumi is best known for her work on ...Bandai Namco's Tales games. She started in 1997 on Tales of Destiny, and worked her way up to lead character designer on most mainline entires up to 2016's Tales of Berseria. She also did character design for the Tekken series. Mutsumi was also a character designer or animator for anime, including City Hunter, Sacred Seven, and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny.Show more

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