Rest In Play - 2010 thru 2019

Peter Mayhew, a British-American actor best known for his role as Chewbacca, passed away on April 30, 2019. At age 8, Mayhew was diagnosed with gigantism, reaching a peak height of 7 feet 3 inches.... Mayhew starred as Chewbacca in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977 original to The Force Awakens in 2015. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Film Awards in 1997. He also wrote two books for younger audiences: Growing Up Giant and My Favorite Giant.Show more

Ralph Kaufman passed away at age 99 on November 21, 2017. He attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and went to officer training school upon his graduation. In April 1944, R...alph married Dorothy Ellen Borden, his wife of 67 years, and soon after was deployed to Europe to serve in World War II. He reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After returning from war, Ralph joined his father-in-law in the family toy business: Jaymar Specialty Company, which he eventually took over and ran as President until his retirement in the 1990s. The most successful toys were the Jaymar puzzles and Jaymar pianos. His work often brought him to Japan, where he developed a lasting appreciation for the country and made lifelong friends.Show more

Tom Kremer, game designer and inventor, marketer, publisher, and entrepreneur, passed away on June 24 2017. He is best known for his discovery and popularization of the Rubik's cube. He also founded t...he publishing house Notting Hill Editions. Kremer studied philosophy at Edinburgh University and completed post-graduate research at the Sorbonne. He saw the Rubik's Cube for the first time in 1979 at the Nuremberg toy fair and licensed it to the Ideal Toy Company. Kremer was a cofounder of Winning Moves Games and chairman of the board. Kremer was married to Lady Alison Emily Kremer.Show more

Leonard Greenberg, son of Maurice Greenberg, who founded Coleco, passed away in July of 2017. He was deeply involved in the family company, being the first to move the company toward leathercraft kits..., which, in 1954, was selected as a Child Guidance Prestige Toy. Because of this, Coleco, at this time known as Connecticut Leather Company, permanently committed to the toy business. Leonard also encouraged the company to adopt the emerging technology of vacuum formed plastic, which led to the production of a wide variety of plastic toys and wading pools.Show more

Horst Brandstätter, a German businessowner, was born on June 27, 1933 and died on June 3, 2015. He was the owner of the company Brandstätter Group, which was the family business. He joined the compa...ny at age 19, and his biggest success was modernizing it. One of his major successes was the production of hula hoops in 1958. In the early 1970s, he commissioned Hans Beck to produce a toy system that came be known as Playmobil. Brandstätter retired from the company in 2000, but regularly visited the office until he passed in 2015. In 2009, Brandstätter was voted Manager of the Year. He was the bearer of the German Federal Cross of Merit and an honorary citizen of the city of Zirndorf. The 2019 film Playmobil: The Movie was dedicated to him in the film's closing credits.Show more

Seymour Wane was born on June 24, 1924 and passed away on October 21, 2015. He was the vice president of The Marx Toy Co. Wane attended New York University and entered the U.S. Navy during World W...ar II, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant j.g. After the war, he joined the Louis Marx Toy Co, which became the largest manufacturer of toys. Wane took charge of moving production to Asian countries. After Louis Marx sold the company to the Quaker Oats Company, Wane continued his career as Vice President of Brae Capital Corp. He then became president of the Millburn-Short Hills Scholastic Boosters, which raised money for scholarships for Millburn High School graduates.Show more

Omri Rothschild, inventor of Naef Mafnaef and co-inventor of Eleven, passed away in 2016. Rothschild designed Magnaef in 1989 for Naef in Switzerland. Magnaef allows children to discover the magic wo...rld of magnetic forces. The tip of the pen contains a magnet that lifts the balls from the circle, and with it kids can make endless motives such as numbers, shapes, etc. Elefun is a children's game in which children attempt to catch toy butterflies with a net. The butterflies are blown through the plastic trunk of an elephant. Rothschild and Boaz Coster invented the game in 1993.Show more

Jerry Welch, an American businessman, passed away on August 27, 2019. Welch attended the University of Tennessee where he obtained a bachelor's of business administration. He briefly worked for the Fe...deral Reserve before becoming the CFO for the Los Angeles-based private equity firm, Kayne Anderson. In the early 1990s, he became CEO of The Right Start, where he obtained Zany Brainy and FAO Schwartz. In 2012, Welch and John W. Lee launched Bambini Partners. Welch was known as a enthusiastic, positive presence on any team that approached every challenge in life with spirit and spunk. He will be deeply missed by anyone who's ever loved him, known him, and or worked with him.Show more

Roy Raizen was born on October 1, 1930 and passed away on November 12, 2017. Roy attended Salisbury School and Lafayette College, and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. And avid lover of s...ports, he supported New York teams, where he was born and raised. Roy was the president of Transogram Toy Company, the company that his father started in 1915. After leaving Transogram, Roy became the co-owner of Effanbee Doll Corp, a successful maker of fine dolls.Show more

Dominic Laurienzo was born on April 21, 1971, and passed away on February 23, 2018. From 1997 until 2000, Laurienzo was a senior designer at Mattel, and from 2000 until his death, he was the senior Vi...ce President of design at Jakks Pacific. Laurienzo is survived by his wife, Helen Laurienzo, and his son, James Laurienzo.Show more