Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Robert "Rob" Wieland passed away on October 12, 2025 at the age of 47. He was an accomplished freelance writer and game designer with over 20 years of experience. Rob was especially involved in the... tabletop roleplaying game space. He was the guest of honor at several conventions, hosted charity games for philanthropic causes, and wrote often for Forbes and the Milwaukee Record, among other publications. He also published a comic book, Girls' Heist Out, and a coffee table book, The History of Choppers. In addition to writing about the space, he helped design many different games, his credits including Star Wars Saga Edition, Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun, Firefly, and various World of Darkness supplements. He also designed some original games, including Camelot Trigger and Save Game. Rob leaves behind his loving wife, Lindsay, and their daughter, Louise. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those who knew and loved him.Show more

Adrian Carney passed away in September 2025. He was a senior commercial manager at Jazwares, where he spent the last nine years of his career. He started his career as a trading analyst at Ocado, then... in buying at Tesco. In 2013, he joined Entertainment One, before making the transition to Jazwares. He was hired as employee number six in the UK, where he contributed greatly to the growth and success of the business. Adrian leaves behind a loving wife, Anita, and two children, Polly and Joey. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those who knew and loved him.Show more

David "Dave" Wallace was born on February 16, 1958 and passed away on August 25, 2025. Dave was the founder of The Fantasy Shop in St. Louis, a popular shop that offered comic books, tabletop games, a...nd many other toys, games, and knick knacks. Dave was an active member of the toy and game industry since the early 1980s. He gave presentations at the GAMA trader show and wrote the Specialty Retailer Handbook as well as the Store Manager's Training Guide. Dave was a passionate advocate for professionalism in game retailing, arguing that the industry deserved to be treated as a profession rather than a hobby. He invested in his company: he always had inventory, he dedicated space to back office operations and warehousing, he even organized meetings with other St. Louis retailers and encouraged stock balancing among stores to deal with overstock. His wife, Kell, has taken over operations at The Fantasy Shop, but Dave's absence is felt by everyone in the community. He is deeply and dearly missed by all those who knew and loved him.Show more

Drew Struzan was born on March 18, 1947 and passed away on October 13, 2025. Drew was an artist, illustrator, and cover designer best known for his film posters, including The Shawshank Redemption, ET..., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and over 150 others. Drew attended ArtCenter College of Design and then joined Pacific Eye & Ear as a staff artist. There is where he started designing album covers for artists like the Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Black Sabbath, and Earth, Wind, & Fire. He then moved on to Pencil Pushers, where he started doing film posters. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he created posters for films like Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, The Muppet Movie, and The Goonies, among others. By the 1990s and early 2000s, he was working on film posters for movies like Harry Potter while also exploring other outlets, like comic books, limited-edition art, and the collectible market. Though Drew announced his retirement in 2008, he came out of retirement in 2012 to do a collaboration with Mondo for a cover of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, and again in 2015 to design posters for the documentary Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In 2019, Drew also came out of retirement to create three separate posters for the How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy. Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, a documentary about Drew's life, came out in 2013. In 2017, to celebrate Drew's 70th birthday, Robert Townson, Varèse Sarabande and the Golden State Pops Orchestra produced the tribute The Magnificent Movie Poster World of Drew Struzan – live in concert which featured Struzan's artwork displayed to the live orchestral performance of associated film music.Show more

Gary Wyatt, founder of the Green Board Game Company, passed away on September 13, 2025, at the age of 68. Gary was the founder of Green Board Game Company, a game company focused on sustainability... in addition to play. Through his company, he created games that were were entertaining for the whole family while also reducing environmental impact, hence the name. Just as much as Gary loved the environment, he loved his family: his wife, Sue, his four children, and his extended family and friends.Show more

Paolo was born on January 26th, 1939 and passed away on October 5, 2025. A native Italian, Paolo served in the Italian military as an officer, and after marrying his wife, Sylvia, they moved to Califo...rnia so Paolo could attend UCLA. Afterwards, he earned his MBA from the University of Buffalo, and started his career in marketing for toy companies, working with firms like Marx and Fisher-Price. Paolo loved to ride motorcycles, play tennis, and spend time with his family. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.Show more

Donald "Don" Kingsborough was born on March 7, 1947 and passed away on September 13, 2025. Don is best remembered in our industry as President of Consumer Products at Atari. In 1985, he co-founded Wor...lds of Wonder, bringing to life toys like Teddy Ruxpin and Lazer tag. He helped bring the Nintendo Entertainment System to major U.S. retailers. Later on, he founded Blackhawk Network, and even went on to work at PayPal in a senior leadership position. Don was married to Rebecca Kingsborough for almost 50 years. Together they had six children, who so far have brought him six grandchildren. He will be deeply and dearly missed by those who knew and loved him.Show more

Vince Zampella was born on October 1, 1970 and passed away on December 21, 2025. Vince's interest in video games started at an early age, and his first job in the industry was at GameTrek doing cu...stomer service and game testing. Over the years, he also worked at Atari, Panasonic, and SegaSoft, the latter at which he met Jason West, with whom he later founded Infinity Ward with. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Vince worked at 2015 Inc. There, he was credited as being the lead designer of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. In May 2022, Vince Zampella, Jason West, and Grant Collier founded Infinity Ward, the video game developer responsible for the Call of Duty franchise. They struck a deal with Activision to create the game, and Activision acquired Infinity Ward shortly after Call of Duty was released. Vince and Jason were fired by Activision shortly after the successful release of Modern Warfare 2, and the pair then sued Activision for wrongful termination. Later on, they were awarded $42M in a non-settlement, mid-trial payment. Vince and Jason founded Respawn Entertainment in April 2010 and released two Titanfall games before EA acquired them. EA put Vince in charge of the Battlefield franchise and let him lead the Los Angeles branch of DICE. Vince died in a tragic accident in 2025. He was driving a 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS when he lost control of the vehicle and struck a concrete barrier. Vince, 55, and the other passenger in the car, both died as a result of their injuries.Show more

Jim Ward was born on May 19, 1959 and passed away on December 10, 2025. He was a voice actor and radio personality best known for his roles in The Fairly OddParents, Ratchet & Clank, and Ben10. Jim...'s voice acting career started in 1976 with a minor role in How the West Was Won. His break didn't come until 1993, when he landed the role of Spider-Man in the video game Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. From there, he scored roles like Captain Qwark in Ratchet & Clank, and Chet Ubetcha and Doug Dimmadome in The Fairly OddParents. In 2009, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his role as Eyemore in Biker Mice from Mars. From 2004-2017, Jim co-hosted The Stephanie Miller Show. Jim married his wife, Janice, in 2009, after meeting her on a cruise to Mexico in 2000.Show more

Michihiro Maeda passed away in September 2025 at the age of 67. He was the president and CEO of Epoch Making Toys. Michihiro first joined the company in 1989 and was appointed president in 1995. In... addition to this role, he was also the chairman of the Japan Toy association, taking on this role in 2021. He specifically focused on the recovery of the Japanese toy business from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding success by restarting the Tokyo toy show.Show more