Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

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

Lucky Evani had an extensive career in sales, working for 13 years as a buyer for Toys 'R' Us, specifically focusing on video games and toys. After leaving Toys 'R' Us, he was hired by Bensussen Deuts...ch & Assocites (BDA) as director of sales, working his way up to president of sales and vice president of sales of the consumer products division at BDA.Show more

Alan Fine was a Senior Vice President of Marketing & Entertainment at Mattel, heading up such functions as marketing research and strategic planning, licensing and entertainment, new business developm...ent, media planning and buying, packaging and consumer affairs. He was also the president of his own company, KaleidOScope, where he did marketing for various brands.Show more

Philip Goodall was born in the UK in 1930. From a very young age, he developed an interest in flying, and he completed his National Service in the RAF and decided to stay and train as a pilot, eventua...lly joining Bomber Command. He spent 25 years in the RAF, flying various different aircrafts, from a Canberra to a Concorde. He retired in 1975, and the same year, he and his wife, Helen, purchased a family-run cycle business. Helen came up with the idea of introducing toys, and the independent toy store The Pied Pedaller was born. The store became one of the largest independent toy shops in the country. The Pied Pedaller eventually joined the Andover based toy buying group, Concorde. Philip was a director of the group for several years before leaving to join Toymaster for a few years, before switching to Youngsters, with whom the business stayed. Philip also joined the committee of the National Association of Toy Retailers (NATR), now the BATR, for which he was chairmen for five years. Philip retired from the business in 2004 and in the following years authored a book, titled ‘My target was Leningrad’, covering his years in the RAF and the Cold War strategy.Show more

Rob Auerbach owner and CEO of CandyRific, was born on March 28, 1952 and passed away on May 7, 2024. Rob was an industry icon, a toy and novelty candy creator for over 40 years. He first founded Ra...inbow Blossom Natural Food Markets in 1977, before founding CandyRific in 2000. Rob ensured that his candy not only tasted delicious, but was free of synthetic preservatives, artificial colors and flavors. Outside of his career, Rob was an avid pilot, loved horse-racing (he attended the 150th Kentucky Derby on May 4th, just before his death), as well as cycling, beekeeping, live music, and traveling. He will be deeply missed by all that knew and loved him.Show more

Jane Garner was born in 1963 and passed away in early May, 2024. Jane's career was on the PR side of the licensing industry. She started out running the PR department at Copyright Promotions before se...tting out on her own and creating Kilogram Media, her own agency, where she specialized in supporting licensors and licensing agents from the UK and the international market. Jane attended Reading University and started her career in journalism, editing Pony Magazine, before moving into the licensing industry. Jane was an animal lover, surrounding herself with dogs and horses. She will be deeply missed by all those who knew and loved her.Show more

Shelly Morick, a former Mattel sales executive, was born on December 21, 1937 and passed away on May 7, 2024. Shelly attended Cornell University as well as Thunderbird School of Management in Inte...rnational Business. Throughout his 50+ year career, he worked for companies like Mattel, where he was the Executive Vice President of Sales. Shelly also enjoyed traveling, exploring the jungles of Africa, the Pyramids of Egypt, and even the North Pole.Show more

Salvatore Anthony Mucaro was born on December 13, 1934 and passed away on May 16, 2024. As a child, Salvatore enjoyed building balsa wood model airplanes, playing street hockey and stick ball and ...racing pigeons. He attended Christopher Columbus High School in NYC before joining the US Army. Afterwards, he married his wife, Rosemarie. He enjoyed playing softball, golf, and bowling, and loved getting involved in his children's activities, like Cub Scouts and ballet recitals. He was also involved with Our Lady Queen of Peace Church's annual Country Supper Show, where he became passionate about singing and performing in front of an audience. This eventually led to his lifelong love of karaoke, which he participated in until just a few weeks prior to his passing. He married his second wife, Cindy, and together they moved to Ferandina Beach, FL. After her passing he reconnected with his childhood sweetheart Dorothy Piano and they spent many happy years together until her passing in 2016. Salvatore worked in the toy industry as a toy designer and a package designer, and worked for Remco Toys, Aurora Products Corporation, Mego Toy Corp., Ideal Toy Corp. and Coleco Toys, before starting his own development company Studio Geppetto with longtime friend and coworker John MacNett.Show more

Richard Keats was born on April 1, 1927 and passed away at the age of 97 on April 7, 2024. Richard Keats graduated from Brown University and served in the US Navy. Afterwards, he joined his father...'s company, Buddy L Toys, in 1948. He worked there until 1990, when it was sold to SLM, and even took over running the company in 1976, when his father retired. After leaving Buddy L Toys, he founded Kaywood Industries, continuing his passion for design and invention. Kaywood also licensed a number of products to companies like Fisher Price, Mattel, Hasbro, and Spin Master. Some of his company's most successful products include Brush Your Teeth Barney, Playtime Big Bird, Flatsy, MakeUp Mindy, and many more. Richard Keats was a dedicated attendee of Toy Fair and the Dallas Fall Toy Preview trade shows. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Jack McAllister was born on December 13, 1926 and passed away at the age of 97 on April 19, 2024. Jack graduated from Robbinsdale High School and the Dunwoody Institute, following his education by ...proudly serving his country as a Navy Veteran during World War 2. After serving, he worked many jobs. He worked for Coast to Coast Hardware in Robbinsdale for many years. He was a toy designer for Sifo Toys as well as for Centuri Rocket Company. He designed cereal box premiums for General Mills. Jack worked as an engraver at Jostens and was employed by North States Industries as a designer and machinist. He also worked at Priemier Plastics as a designer and mold fabricator and was a machinist at NW Swissmatics. But one of his proudest achievements was being the creator of the games Bunkerball and Racehorse checkers. "The absolute best picnic game for families, churches, and parks. Play like Softball only that the fielders use paddle bats to get fly or ground balls into the ring shaped bases for a put-out," he described it. He was also a dedicated member of his community: an active member of the Robbinsdale, Crosby and Wright County Historical Societies. He was also a naturalist, and enjoyed sharing his expertise on ancient Native American portage trails which traverse throughout Cuyuna country. In fact, he was instrumental in clearing the pathway for a scenic mountain bike and hiking trail located in Ironton, MN and was even featured in a documentary on PBS. Jack will be dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more