Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Kosin Virapornsawan was bron in 1982 and passed away on September 12, 2024. Kosin was the managing director of PlanToys, a sustainable toy company. He'd spent over a decade in the toy industry, le...ading sustainability efforts, environmental stewardship, and ethical business practices at PlanToys at the company headquarters in Thailand.Show more

Brian Trueman was born on May 16, 1932 and passed away on September 1, 2024. He is most famously known as the writer behind the cartoon series Danger Mouse. Brian attended Stretford Grammar School ...and spent one year at the University of Manchester. He served in the Royal Army Service Corps as a second lieutenant before beginning his career in TV writing, and voice acting, and broadcasting. He presented the children's quiz show Screen Test and worked at Granada TV. Most famously, though, he worked with animation company Cosgrove Hall Films. He was the writer behind danger Mouse, Count Duckula, and Chorlton and the Wheelies.Show more

Andrew Hackard was born on December 24, 1970 and passed away on June 17, 2021. Andrew was also known as the Munchkin Czar and The Red Pen of Doom. He was the line editor of the Munckin game line, ...and worked for Steve Jackson Games as a game designer. He had a passion for astronomy, word play, the Texas Longhorns, board and card games, eclectic styles of music, science fiction, computers, writing, and Cowboy Bebop. He had a larger than life personality, and left this world far too soon.Show more

John Wilson, also known as the Rochdale Balrog, passed away on May 31, 2021. John was the founder of renowned text adventure game publisher Zenobi Software. He turned Zenobi into a full-time ventu...re in 1986, helping produce and publish adventure games for systems like ZX Spectrum and the Atari ST. John also released a brand new adventure game for the ZX Spectrum called Ramsbottom Smith and the Quest for the Yellow Spheroid.Show more

Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab, passed away in June 2021. Ebbe joined Linden Lab, which is the creator and developer of the online virtual world Second Life, in 2014 as the CEO. He embraced this p...osition, promoting Second Life as the world's best virtual world, community, and platform. Prior to joining Linden Lab, Altberg worked at high-profile technology companies including BranchOut, Yahoo!, and Microsoft.Show more

Art Janis passed away in March 2021. Art was the executive vice president of sales for WowWee, and an all around toy industry legend. Art spent 25 years at WowWw, working closely with the company's... co-founders, Richard and Peter Yanofsky. Art leaves behind his loving wife, Marina. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Candace Irving was the Public Relations Manager for Mattel Toys from April 1976 until March 2000. Over the course of her 24 years at Mattel, she worked in the Public Relations office managing brands l...ike Barbie, Hot Wheels, Masters of the Universe, My Child, Princess of Power, and other Mattel brands. After her 2+ decades at Mattek, Candace worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment as the Senior Account Executive of Sales for two years. Then, she joined Warner Bros. as an Account Executive.Show more

Jake Sivner passed away in April of 2022 at the age of 22. Jake Sivner joined the toy industry in 2018 as a sales and marketing intern at ZURU Toys in Hong Kong, where he quickly moved into sales a...nd account management positions for the Asia Pacific and EMEA regions. Later, he joined YWOW Brands as sales director before relocating to Los Angeles to start his own company. In April 2021, he opened JAS (Jake Alexander Sivner) Ultimate Solutions, which specialized in marketing consulting for launching toy brands within the North American market.Show more

Steve Webb passed away in March of 2022 after a short battle with cancer. Steve had recently joined Cartamundi as the head of retail. Prior to this role, he spent several years at One For Fun as s...trategic account manager, and prior to that, he worked at A.B.Gee as national account manager. Steve leaves behind his wife, Nic, and his two children, Gracie and Jack. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Don Rubin was born on April 6, 1945 and passed away on April 8, 2022. Don attended Boston University and began his career in education, but that eventually evolved into much more. Throughout his l...ife he was a creative consultant, scripwriter, game designer, photographer, puzzle maker, research historian, editor, and writer. His creation, "The Real Puzzle" was published in over 300 national and international newspapers and magazines. Each week, when he created a new puzzle, he became a mini expert in the field of the topic of the puzzle. He also wrote many books, including, "The Real Puzzle Book", "What's the Big Idea", "Those Incredible Puzzles", "Think Tank", "Brainstorms" and "More Brainstorms". After finding so much success in the print world, he decided to delve into the online world as well. He worked on interactive games at Shockwave, Firemint, Ringzero Networks, and Electronic Arts. He was also a member of the Screen Writers Guild, and won many awards for editorial design, art direction, television and film design, photography, game design, advertising copywriting, and Web content development. Don leaves behind his lovely wife, Caroline Judy. He is deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more