Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Howard Morrison was born in 1932 and passed away in 2025 at the age of 92. Howard was an inventor at heart, and his passion for creating as a means of problem solving began at a young age, when he f...ound himself in need of transportation and built a motorcycle from salvaged parts. Throughout his life, he invented many successful toys, including Simon, the light and sound memory game, the Mickey Mouse telephone, and other iconic games and elements of other toys and games. Howard was inducted into the Toy Industry Association Hall of Fame in 1998, and received a Toy and Game Inventor Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.Show more

John Hales, co-founder of Golden bear Toys, passed away at the age of 85 in January 2025. John founded Golden Bear on February 12th, 1979 with his business partner Christine Nicholls. John did a l...ot throughout his career, including launching the Teletubbies toy range, which one Toy of the Year in 1997. He also received a lifetime achievement award from the British Toy & Hobby Association. John was also very active in the horse racing world, known as one of the leading British-based jumps owners of the last 40 years. He's owned many of the award-winning horses of the years, including his first winner in 1993, One Man, and 2012 Grand National winner Neptune Collonges.Show more

Mary Anne Krupsak was born on March 26, 1932 and passed away on December 28, 2024. She was the lieutenant governor of New York from 1975 - 1978, and was the first woman to hold the office. Mary Ann...e was born in New York and attended the University of Rochester. She then received a master's degree in public communications from Boston University. She worked in the New York State Department of Commerce. She joined the campaign efforts of a few politicians before attending the University of Chicago Law School. After graduating, she briefly practice law before returning to New York to be an assistant counsel for the state Senate staff. Mary Anne was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1969 to 1973. She was a member of the New York State Senate from 1973 to 1975. In May 1974, she announced that she would be running for Governor of New York. She campaigned through the primary season and won the support of women's rights groups, labor unions, and liberal organizations. She beat both Cuomo and Antonio Olivieri and in November 1974, she was elected lieutenant governor of New York. Mary Anne was also on the Board of Directors for several corporations, including Coleco. During her tenure on the Board, Coleco came out with Cabbage Patch Kids. She will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved her.Show more

Alton Thacker was born on October 19, 1935 and passed away on November 26, 2024. He was best known as the founder of Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids. Alton was born in Utah and grew up working a var...iety of odd jobs. He married his high school sweetheart two days after high school graduation, and he and Cheryl Kay Remington went on to have eight children together and were married for over 70 years. Most of Alton's career was spent as a barber. He opened Al's Style Shop and cut hair for almost 30 years. After he retired, he founded Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids in 1996. Tiny Tim's came about after several trips to Mexico with a group of Utah eye doctors who collected used eyeglasses and traveled to Mexico to fit them to people who needed them but couldn't afford them. On these trips, Alton noticed many children who didn't have any toys, and resolved to do something about it. He started making wooden toy cards. The first year, Alton and Cheryl made about 400 toy cars in their garage. They made many trips to Mexico over the years, and soon Tiny Tim's expanded to building more than 100,000 toy cars a year with more than 1,000 volunteers. In total, Tiny Tim's has given more than 1.7 million toy cars to children in more than 110 countries around the world.Show more

Charles Burchell Phillips passed away on November 7, 2022 at the age of 78. Charles was born in Jamaica but moved to live with his grandfather in New Jersey at the age of 13 for middle school. He ...then moved back to Jamaica for high school, and then attended Howard University in the States for college. After graduating, he worked for Ford Motor Company's Experimental Garage for two years, where new car styling features were explored. He then went on to work for Ideal Toy Company. After that, he developed new games and consulted with other game inventors. Some of his games include Advance to Boardwalk, Free Parking, M.A.G.S., I Vant To Bite Your Finger, and Clue Jr. These were all produced and sol by Hasbro and Parker Brothers. Independently, he designed and produced BUX. Charles loved animals, cars, Jamaican food, running, watching football, and of course, his family and friends. He will be deeply and dealy missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Rickie Paley, who helped design clothing for Barbie, passed away on December 30, 2024. Rickie was born during the Great Depression and started working at her parents toy, furniture, and bike store ...in New York at a young age. She didn't have the means to pay for college, but prided herself on being a self-taught graduate of "Street University," as she liked to call it. She began her career by leaving New York City for Seattle, Washington, where she took a job as a trainee in the retail fashion sector at Frederick & Nelson, part of Marshall Field & Company. In 1950, Rickie received the of a lifetime from Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel. She asked her to join the company and market Barbie. Rickie realized that the marketing magic behind Barbie is not in the doll itself, but in the outfits and accessories, and this genius concept is what made Barbie such a success. Rickie married Sid Paley, a real estate developer, who convinced her she had a knack for selling homes. Rickie sold 372 starter homes over the course of her career as a real estate agent. Rickie was also very involved in Sarasota's Jewish community, and is fondly remembered by all those who knew and loved her.Show more

Martyn Brown, co-founder of Team17, passed away on December 28, 2024. He was 57 years old. His son, Jack Brown, announced the news of his passing with the following message: "Martyn passed away pe...acefully in his sleep at 8:17am, 28th of December, 2024 surrounded by family, following a prolonged battle with a series of strokes. Know that he went out on his own terms listening to his favourite music and surrounded by loved ones." Martyn co-founded Team17 with Debbie Bestwick and Michael Robinson in 1990. He helped create more than 50 video games over the course of his career, including Worms and Alien Breed. He also formed consultancy Insight for Hire and helped support studios Double Eleven, Exient, The Blast Furnace, and New Star Games.Show more

Mike Gull passed away in November 2024. Mike was known for his 40+ year career in the television broadcasting industry, most of which he spent at GMTV, now known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited.... Friends and colleagues described him as an expert in the media world—the leading kids' broadcaster in the UK. Mike, along with his close friend and colleague Clive Crouch, sought to establish partnerships across the toy community as well, which was quite revolutionary compared to competitors, who forged these relationships through ad agencies and media companies. Mike is remembered as a larger than life kind of guy who brought warmth, humor, and connection to every interaction. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Britt Allcroft, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, was born on December 14, 1943 and passed away on December 25, 2024. She was 81 years old. Britt was born Hilary Mary Allcroft Coote. Gro...wing up, she shared a home with an aunt who often told stories of her daily commute on the train, which sparked Britt's love of trains at a young age. She changed her name to Britt at age 16, when her British radio and television presence gained momentum. She ended up creating a bunch of popular programmes for BBC and ITV throughout the 1970s and 1980s, like Moon Clue Game and Dance Crazy. In 1979, Britt was making a documentary about British steam locomotives when she was introduced to Wilbert Awdry, author of The Railway Series, a children's book series. She told him that she wanted to bring his stories to life and secured rights through his publishers at the time, Kaye & Ward. The next year, she co-founded Britt Allcroft Railway Productions, later known as The Britt Allcroft Company, with her husband, Angus Weight, who was a television producer. Four years later, the first two episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends debuted, with narration by Ringo Starr and music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. The series was an immediate hit, and Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends became a franchise that is still popular among kids today, decades later. Britt and her husband Angus were married from 1973 until 1997. They had two children together.Show more

Matilde Brualdi Clementoni passed away on November 18, 2024 at the age of 93. Originally from Pesaro in Italy, Matilde moved to Recanti to pursue an entrepreneurial dream. She and her husband, Mari...o, co-founded Clementoni, a family owned Italian business specializing in toys and games. In the late 1990s, Matilde and Mario left their business to their four children, who still head the company. The first board game and the founding of Clementoni came in the early 1960s, and has only grown since then, holding true to the mantra that began with Matilde and Mario: "to stir emotions in children as they grow through play."Show more