Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Bill Burke passed away suddenly on August 9, 2021 at the age of 55. He was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Licensing International. Bill started his career in licensing... at companies including HIT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop, and Foot Locker. He was the Senior Vice President of Marketing for CBS Consumer Products, where he led Global Marketing, International Licensing, and Licensing operations for iconic brands including Star Trek. He leaves behind a loving wife, Patty, and a son and daughter, Erin and Ryan. He will be deeply missed by all that knew and loved him.Show more

Tom Morey was born on August 15, 1935 and passed away on October 14, 2021. He was a musician, engineer, surfer, and most famously, inventor of the boogie board. Tom was a professional musician in t...he 1950s, and loved to surf. He attended USC and graduated in 1957. He then worked for Douglas Aircraft as an engineer, but left the corporate world in 1964, when he moved to Ventura and started a series of companies that served the surfing market. In 1971, he invited the Boogie board, and founded the company Morey Boogie shortly after. He sold Morey Boogie i 1977 and moved to Hawaii to work as a consultant and jazz musician. He moved around a bunch after this, changing occupations as he went, even changing his name to Y at one point. He lived in Washington and different parts of California, worked as an engineer, surfing consultant, and founding another company -- TomMorey.com. From 1999 to 2007, he developed new, soft-surfboard technology, hand-making boards. His most famous of these was the Swizzle, a parabolic-shaped longboard design.Show more

Jack Hirsh, founder and U.S. president of VTech Electronics North America, passed away in July of 2021. Jack began his career in the 1950s as a buyer and merchandiser for Jewel Companies. In the 1...970s, he moved to Mattel, where he handled sales. He also founded Waddingtons House of Games and worked as a representative of VTech toys before making the transition to founding president. He served as president until 1991, when he became Chairman of the Board. Jack leaves behind his wife, Bonnie Price, and many other extended family members, all who love and miss him dearly.Show more

Allison Katzman, creator of Blythe Dolls, was born on January 25, 1925 and passed away on February 25, 2020. Allison attended the Art Institute, where she met her husband, Robert Katzman. She worke...d in visual arts throughout her entire life, opening a ceramic studio, designing window displays for various businesses, and designing exhibits for the Chicago Science and Industry Museum. Eventually, she joined Marvin Glass & Associates. In 1972, she launched her Blythe Dolls, and though sales weren't great when the dolls first came out, now they are a cult collectable item. In 1999, though, Blythe was reborn. Photographer Gina Garan shot some high-fashion pictures of her. Junko Wong, who heads the Tokyo illustration agency Cross World Connections, was captivated. She helped bring Blythe to the attention of Japan’s Parco department store, which featured her in ads. CWC arranged to lease Blythe from Hasbro and Wong oversees the production of new dolls. Featuring eye-color changing technology, many people purchase Blythe Dolls and have them reimagined as a Mini-Me.Show more

Kazuhisa Hashimoto was born on November 15, 1958 and passed away on February 25, 2020. He was a Japanese video game developer, most famous for creating the Konami Code, a cheat code used in numerous v...ideo games. Kazuhisa joined the game company Konami in 1981. He started out developing circuit boards for coin-operated products like medal games. Later, Konami expanded into arcade games and then started bringing their arcade games to the video game screen for the Nintendo Entertainment System. One of the first games that Hashimoto worked on was Track & Field. It wasn't until 1986 when the Konami Code came to be. Kazuhisa inadvertently created it while bringing the arcade version of Gradius to the NES. Hashimoto knew the arcade version of the game was hard and he would likely not finish it, so he added a sequence of button presses that he could easily remember that gave the ship he controlled in the game the full range of power-ups so that he could easily complete the game for in-house testing purposes. He had intended to remove the programming code for that sequence before the game was shipped, but the game had shipped with the code included. Now, not only is it used in various different video games even from other developers, it's also an Easter egg in other forms of media.Show more

Jim Mariol, creator of the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, passed away in early January of 2020. Jim was born during the Great Depression, and always had a fascination with cars, though his family couldn...'t afford one. He went on to study industrial design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Just before he graduated, however, he was drafted to serve in the Army. After returning, he started Design Alliance, a design consultancy firm, and in 1976, Little Tikes became a client. Jim designed the Cozy Coupe for the company, and it became an instant hit. To date, it's sold over 10 million units across the world.Show more

Peter Woods, former Fence Club chairman, passed away in April 2021. throughout his career, Peter worked at Disney, Warner Bros, and Repubilc Pictures before joining Ideal Toys, Western Publishing and ...Dekker. He was the chairman of the Fence Club in 1980, most notably remembered for setting up the annaul golf tournament in 1979 in memory of Teddy Simmonds. Peter loved film, The Arsenal, and spending time with family and friends, all of whom love and miss him dearly.Show more

Richard Halliwell, British game designer, was born on March 29, 1959 and passed away on May 1, 2021. Richard has always liked war games, playing tabletop miniatures with his friend Rick Priestly a...s a teenager. While still in school, the pair decided to create a fantasy miniature wargame called Reaper. A small company, Tabletop Games, published their game. This would be just the beginning of game designing for Richard. Soon, Richard and a team of others, including Bryan Ansell, Rick Priestley, and Tony Ackland developed Warhammer, for the company Games Workshop. Richard went on to produce several other GW games, including Judge Dredd, Block Mania, Slaughter Margin, Citi-Block, Dark Future, and Space Hulk. Richard won two Origins Awards for Space Hulk.Show more

Michael Loveland spent his entire career in the toy business, most notably with Bandai. He played a pivotal role in the formation of the UK-based operation in 1982, when he and his brother Nigel were ...tasked by the Japanese parent company to set up a UK subsidiary. Michael became the European marketing director, and was part of the team that brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the UK and European markets. Michael was also involved with both the British Toy and Hobby Association and the Toy industries of Europe throughout his career, serving as an active Board member in both organisations.Show more

Melvin "Mel" Squires passed away on April 23, 2022. Mel was the leading buyer and general manager for A Ponnock & CO. a leading toy wholesaler who serviced the greater Philadelphia area and Mid-Atlant...ic states. Mel later served as a key account executive at both TYCO and TYCO Preschool. Mel is remembered for being tough but fair, a hard work ethic, a keen eye for product, his love of sports and a great sense of humor. He will be missed by all those he worked with during a long and distinguished toy career.Show more