Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Jens Nygaard Knudsen was born January 25, 1942 and passed away on February 19, 2020. Jens began his career at LEGO as a model builder, and his first task was to build hundreds of LEGO Town cars in ...different colors. After a while, he was assigned to make bigger sets, like Fire Station, Police Station, and the Hospital. He actually came up with the idea to include rooftop heliports on these sets. In the 1970s, he and his colleague Bent Irving Anderson developed the electric train system before Jens set his sights on the mini figure. He designed over 50 concepts, and in 1978, his minifigure design was patented and produced by the LEGO group, and all minifigures to this day use this design. Eventually, Jens was promoted to Chief Designer, a position he held until he retired in 2020.Show more

Satish Pillalamarri tragically lost his battle to cancer in October of 2020. Satish joined North Star games straight out of business school becoming partners with Luke Warren. One of the first gam...es they worked on together was Cluzzle. In 2006, they came out with Wits & Wagers, and in 2008, Say Anything followed. Together, Satish, Luke, and the rest of their company made more than games, they made a family, and Satish is deeply and dearly missed by all. Satish leaves behind his wife, Shivangi, and their son, Om, who was born just days before Satish passed. A scholarship fund was created in Satish's memory to fund Om's college one day. If you would like to donate, the link is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/scholarship-for-om-in-honor-of-satish-pillalamarriShow more

Lee Volpe was born on June 3, 1941 and passed away on October 21, 2020. Lee had a long and successful career in industrial design. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the Philadelphi...a College of Art, and went on to become a successful inventor, design developer, and consultant. He worked with top licensors, Jim Davis of Garfield, Charles Schultz of Snoopy, Jim Henson of The Muppets, Berke Breathed of Opus, as well as Disney, Nickelodeon, Scholastic, and Harley Davidson. He was also the Corporate Vice President of Product Development and Inventor Relations at Tyco. Outside of his work, Lee loved motorcycles, music, good food, "dark & nuclear" bears, "chewy" red wines, and single malt scotch. He also taught Industrial Design evening classes at University of the Arts (formerly Philadelphia College of Art). He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Robert Manlin passed away on March 15, 2020. He was the President of Robert Manlin Marketing and was previously Senior Vice President of Sales at Larami Inc. Robert leaves behind his beloved wife, ...Bo, three children, Jessica, Elizabeth, and Zachary, and his three grandchildren, Aidan, Cora, and Reuben. His children and grandchildren were the lights of his life, and they, and all that knew and loved him, will miss him dearly.Show more

Harvey Diamond was born on July 17, 1936 and passed away on July 30, 2020. Harvey was the VP of International Licensing at Mattel and then became President of H. Diamond International. He leaves behin...d his loving wife, Avra, children Lynn, Julie, Adam, and Jeremy, and many grandchildren. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Brian Downs passed away on July 4, 2020 after a courageous battle with cancer. Brian began his career in the toy industry at Toys 'R' Us, eventually making his way to Toy Manufacturer Representativ...e with Les Friedland Associates. Outside of work, his passion for fun was just as prominent. He loved to golf, play softball, watch the Jets and the Mets, and spend time with friends and family at the Jersey Shore. Brian loved being a father and a grandfather. he coached all three of his kids' sports teams when they were growing up, and one of the greatest joys of his life was spending time with his grandkids.Show more

Rob Romash was born on January 16, 1969 and passed away on June 9, 2024. Rob was a creative since childhood, crafting intricate models beginning at age 4. He went to college to study fine arts, spe...cializing in Raku ceramics. Rob was on the development team for the creation of the very first SuperSoaker, which was just the beginning of his career in the toy industry. He hand-sculpted over 100 Matchbox master patterns for Mattel Toys, and was the owner of Eclipse Toys. Outside of work, Rob enjoyed indoor free flight competitions, and won numerous world championship aero modeling titles. He was a loving husband to Nida, and a cat-dad to Sundae. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Beth Schlansky was born on September 29, 1953 and passed away on July 29, 2024. Beth graduated from Queens College in 1976, and her first job after graduation was at Macy's Executive Training Prog...ram. In 1979, she became a merchandiser in the corporate office of British American Tobacco US. There, she worked with an array of national accounts including Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field's, Gimbels, and Kohl's. In 1986, Beth joined Spencer Gifts as Vice President of Licensing. She also played a role in the growth of Licensing International from its beginning in 1985. She was elected twice to the Board of Directors, served several years as a LIMA Retail Officer and LIMA’s first Charity Chairperson where she had the honor to have inaugurated the Licensing Industry’s Charity focus, The Hole in The Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Ct. started by Paul Newman. In 2006, Beth started her own company, Beth Schlansky, Inc., where she was a licensing agent offering support and consulting services for licensors, manufacturers, and retailers. Beth leaves behind a loving husband, George Velasco, and will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved her.Show more

Susan Wojcicki was born on July 5, 1968 and passed away on August 9, 2024 after a two year battle with lung cancer. She was the CEO of YouTube from 2014 - 2023 and was one of the first Google employee...s. Susan became Google employee #16 in September 1998 when she rented out her garage to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. She joined the team working on the initial marketing programs, helped create the logo, and co-developed and launched Google Image Search. She was eventually promoted to Google's senior vice president of Advertising & Commerce. In February 2014, Susan became the CEO of YouTube, and was named "the most important person in advertising" and one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2015. While CEO, the company developed 10 forms of monetization for YouTube creators, including channel memberships, merchandise, BrandConnect, and paid digital goods like Super Chat. She also launched YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. Susan tightened YouTube's policy on videos it regards as potentially violating its policies on hate speech and violent extremism, and emphasized educational content as a priority. On February 16, 2023, Wojcicki announced her resignation from YouTube via a company blog post, citing her desire to focus on family, health, and personal projects. Susan was married to Dennis Troper, director of product management at Google, and together they had 5 children.Show more

Eugene "Gene" Hendel was born on August 17, 1943 and passed away on June 30, 2024. Gene spent 5 decades in the toy industry, at first working for companies like Kenner, Mattel, Hasbro, and Tiger El...ectronics before launching his own company, Gene Hendel Associates. Gene loved his family and his pets deeply. He was an active member of his community, West Chester. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more