Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Paul Hyslop passed away on May 30, 2022. Paul spent much of his last two decades working at JustFlight, a UK-based publisher specializing in developing and publishing add-ons for Flight Simulator. ...Paul's career started at Microprose, where he helped to establish the military software brand in Europe. After, he worked at Tomb Raider publisher Eidos, before joining Just Flight in 2002. Paul was described by his friends as a man with no ego, a man with many friends, and and a man who knew how to have a good time. He will be dearly missed by friends, family, and colleagues alike.Show more

Douglas Thompson, former president of the Toy Manufacturers Association, passed away on October 22, 2021 at the age of 97. Douglas joined the TMA, now The Toy Association, as president in 1978 and ...led the organization in consumer safety and policy, public relations, and philanthropy. He was also a founder of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Toy Design Department.Show more

Lizzie Wilding, Vice President of commercial operations at UK studio Dovetail Games, passed away on May 26, 2022 after a battle against colon cancer. Lizzie spent over 5 years at Dovetail Games, or...iginally joining the company as vice president of publishing before taking over commercial operations last year. Previously, Lizzie had worked in marketing positions at PlayStation, Jagex, Codemasters, NaturalMotion, Gremlin Interactive, and Electronic Arts. Lizzie was one of the first recipients of the MCV Top 100 Women in Games Awards. She is survived by her husband and five children, along with her mother, uncle, and grandfather.Show more

Emilio Delgado was born on May 8, 1940 and passed away at the age of 81 on March 10, 2022. He was best known for his role as Luis on Sesame Street. Emilio began acting professionally in 1968, but d...idn't start on Sesame Street until 1971. He played Luis, a handyman and aspiring writer who ran the Fix-It Shop. He was one of the first human additions to the show, and his character was described as "an honest, upstanding, hard-working, affable person." Emilio expected the role to last one or two seasons, but he in fact played Luis from 1971 until 2016. He is believed to have played the same role on U.S. television longer than any other Mexican-American actor ever has. Emilio married Barbara Snavely in 1963, with whom he had a son with, and they divorced in 1975. He married Linda Moon in 1977, and they divorced in 1984. He married Carole Delago in 1990, and they were together until his death in 1990. He and Carole had a daughter, Lauren.Show more

Joe Ruby was born on March 30, 1933 and passed away on August 26, 2020 at the age of 87. Joe was best known for co-creating the animated Scooby-Doo franchise with Ken Spears. Together, they founded th...e television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Joe attended Fairfax High School, and immediately afterward joined the Navy. He worked as a sonar operator on a destroyer during the Korean War. After his service, Joe studied art and began his career in animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios. A few years later, he met Ken Spears, who was also a Navy verteran, and they teamed up to become writers for several animated and live-action television programs. They worked for a number of companies, including Hanna-Barbera, Sid and Marty Krofft, and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. For Hanna-Barbera, the duo created the Scooby-Doo franchise and its main characters, which debuted in September 1969. In 1977, ABC set Joe and Ken up with their own studio, Ruby-Spears Productions, where they animated different series for Saturday mornings, including Fangface, The Plastic Man Comedy-Adventure Hour, Thundarr the Barbarian, Saturday Supercade, Mister T, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Superman, among others.Show more

Loretta Whitney was born on February 17, 1941, and passed away on December 27, 2020 at the age of 79. Loretta was a dollmaker, famous for creating Baby Whitney, a doll with realistic Black features. ... Loretta attended Howard University, and came into doll making when she was looking to gift her niece a doll and was having trouble finding a Black doll with realistic features. The Cabbage Patch Kids craze was in full swing, and while they did have a few Black dolls, they were made the same as white dolls, just using brown fabric. Her boyfriend, soon-to-be husband, Melvin Whitfield, had noticed the same thing—that even though there may have been Black dolls on the shelves, they were modeled after European faces and bodies. So, after getting married in 1984, the pair decided to design an alternative. They spent 3 years creating Baby Whitney, one of first realistic mass-produced Black dolls.Show more

Paul Coker Jr. was born on March 5, 1929 and passed away on July 23, 2022 at the age of 93. He was an American illustrator, best known for his work on Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town..., and The Year Without A Santa Claus. Paul studied art at the University of Kansas before taking a job as a greeting card designer for Hallmark in the 1950s. Paul's first professional work was in 1946, when he designed Chest Lion, the mascot for Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas, where he grew up. He went on to illustrate over 375 articles in the magazine Mad. In 1967, he became a production designer on more than a dozen Rankin/Bass specials and shorts, like the ones mentioned above.Show more

Dean O'Donnell a Massachusetts professor and game writer, passed away unexpectedly on March 7, 2022. Dean received his BS in Physics at WPI, and his MFA in Dramatic Writing at Brandeis University. ...He contributed to a number of early independent games from the early role-playing-game era, including Titan Quest and Titan Quest: Immortal Throne. Dean has been a teacher at WPI for the last 29 years and helped create the university's Interactive Media and Games Development program. Dean enjoyed alternate reality games, table-top roleplaying games, and "overly complicated board games." He will be dearly missed by his wife, his sister, two nieces, his great-niece, and many other family members, friends, colleagues, and students alike.Show more

Marty Kroft, co-producer of children's TV shows "H.R. Pufnstuf" and "Land of the Lost," was born on April 9, 1937 and passed away on November 25, 2023. Marty died of kidney failure at the age of 86. ... Marty, along with his brother, Sid, were often known as the Krofft Brothers, and through their production company, Sid & Marty Krofft, they made a number of successful children's television shows in the 1970s. Namely, H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Lidsville, and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, to name a few.Show more

Bryan Ansell was born on October 11, 1955 and passed away on December 30, 2023. He was a British role-playing and wargame designer, known for his time as managing director of Games Workshop. Bryan ...got his start in the toy industry as a miniature sculptor for Conquest Miniatures. In 1976, he and two friends founded Asgard Miniatures, but two years later, Bryan left Asgard and partnered with Games Workshop to found the company Citadel Miniatures, which would go on to produce and manufacture 25mm historical and fantasy minatures for games published by Games Workshop. Bryan himself designed Warhammer and Fantasy Battle. In 1985, after Citadel Minatures became the most profitable line of the company, Bryan became managing director of Games Workshop. Bryan passed away at the age of 68, leaving behind his wife, Dianne, and will be dearly missed by friends, family, and colleagues alike.Show more