Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Oscar Koveleski, founder of the Auto World and Kidracer brands, passed away on December 28, 2020 at the age of 88. Oscar was a race car driver and scale model enthusiast, and founded Auto World in... 1958. Through ads in magazines, it grew in popularity, and soon it became a catalog business that pioneered the hobby and specialty retail space through its extensive offerings of slot-racing cars and track sets, plastic model kits, R/C cars, building supplies, and other items. After finding much success, Oscar opened a brick and mortar location of the mail-order business. 30 years later in 1988, Oscar launched the Kidracer line of miniature Formula 1 race cars for kids. These battery-powered cars continued to evolve over the years. Oscar had a successful career as a race car driver as well. His first win came in a 1951 SCCA Regional race at Bone Stadium in Pittston, Pennsylvania. He spent the 50s and 50s in SCCA Regional and National Races, and in 1970, he won the ASR National Championship at Road Atlanta. He also was on the board of directors of the Motor Racing Safety Society.Show more

Jimmy Hunter, founder of Hunter Toys, passed away in November 2020 after a long illness. Jimmy has been involved with the toy industry since the 1970s, even founding his own company, Hunter Toys, w...hich was a successful supplier of dolls and dolls' clothing. Jimmy was the BTHA Chairman from 2000-2002, and was very involved with Toy Fair and the BTHA's Value of Play initiatives. He was the champion for Total Fun and the brainchild behind the Golden Teddy awards. Jimmy was also involved in the Toy Trust, with many of his friends recalling fond memories of him at the most recent Toy Trust fundraiser. His daughter, Sally, followed in his footsteps, enjoying a similar career in the toy trade.Show more

Malcolm Rose passed away in late 2021. Malcolm's first role in the toy industry was in the mid 60s at Angel Toys. He spent several years there, holding many senior roles, and also lent his expertise t...o Illco, Tyco-Matchbox, and Mookie Toys. His last full-time role was as sales director at Mookie Toys, where he played an instrumental part in the growth of the business and its establishment as a pre-eminent force in the outdoor toy market, both in the UK and internationally. Though he retired in 2005, he continued to work as a consultant for many years, namely for Top Banana Toys and Kyria. Malcolm leaves behind a wonderful family, his wife, Sandra, children Simon and Jo, and grandchildren Sophie and Sam.Show more

Playwright and Ubisoft veteran Russell Lees passed away in January of 2022 after a heart attack at the age of 64. Russell started out in the gaming industry in the mid 1990s and wrote and directed ...the 1995 PC horror adventure The Dark Eye, a digital adaptation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He joined Ubisoft in 2009 and spent 13 years there, where he wrote narratives, scripts, and sub-stories for titles including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs. He also wrote the comedy Nixon's Nixon, about the imaginary meeting between Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger on the eve of Nixon's resignation, which debuted off-Broadway in 1995 and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. He also wrote Monticel', another political play about Thomas Jefferson. Russell co-founded the TheatreWorks/West production company in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he wrote and directed for the stage and served as director of French-language plays at the University of Utah.Show more

Carl Weathers was born on January 14, 1948 and passed away on February 1, 2024 at the age of 76. He was an actor and a director, best known for his role as boxer Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky f...ilms. Carl Weathers grew up with a focus on athletics. He played football in middle school, high school, and college. He was a linebacker for San Diego State University and a letterman for the San Diego State Aztecs in 1968 and 1969, helping them win the Pasadena Bowl. While at San Diego State, he received a master in theatre arts. After playing in college, Carl went on to play on the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. After 4 years, he retired and began pursuing an acting career. As an actor, he starred in television series, films, and voiced video game characters, namely Col. Samuel Grant in Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Jax 'Dillon' Skin in Mortal Kombat X, and Lightman in The Artful Escape. Some of his television appearances include The Six Million Dollar Man, Psych, Chicago P.D., Law & Order, and The Mandalorian, to name a few. Some of his film appearances include the Rocky series, Happy Gilmore, Toy Story 4, and Action Jackson, the last of which he was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.Show more

Paul McLaughlin passed away at the age of 57 in December 2021. He spent over 30 years working as an artist, and was most recently head of art for the developer 22cans. He worked on titles like Curiosi...ty, Godus, and The Trial. He also worked as a studio art director at Lionhead, where he was responsible for the development of the Fable and Black & White series. Paul received a Fine Art degree from Waterford Institute of Technology with a focus on Sculpture, Painting, and Art History. He also obtained a Leaving Certificate from De La Salle College Waterford. He is survived by his wife, Evie, and his three children.Show more

Lutz Muller, a Swiss business man, passed away on January 14, 2024. Lutz wore a number of hats throughout his life: He was the Senior Director at Schering Plough, a leading pharmaceutical/consu...mer products multinational where he was in charge of international marketing at Headquarters. He was the CEO of DKSH, a Swiss-owned mini-conglomerate that got crafts for children into Wal-Mart's toy aisle, revolutionizing the Activity Kit category. He was the President and founder of Klosters Trading Corporation. He wanted to provide competitive intelligence to large financial entities interested in the CPG space and to assist companies in need of help in the areas of new product development, sales, and marketing. He was the CEO of Pastime Industries Inc. Pastime was a turn-around, a company that had been delisted by Wal-Mart, Target, ToysRUs and many others. Lutz' team invented the "Children make their own Candies" and then "Children make their own Beauty Aids" activity kit concepts and placed these in Wal-Mart, Target, ToysRUs, Costco and many others. He was the Court-appointed Chief Financial Agent for a toy manufacturer. He had a monthly column at TOYS, Germany's leading industry publication, and issued two industry newsletters per month, the Klosters Toy Manufacturer Newsletter and the Klosters Toy Supply Chain Newsletter.Show more

Merle. R. Lewis, model maker and toy designer for Marx Toys, passed away on January 11, 2024. Merle was exceptional with his hands. He was a masterful mechanic, and worked for Marx Toys straight o...ut of school as a model maker and toy designer. His name appears on the patent for the Lectric Shot Shooting Gallery, and thoroughly enjoyed his time there. Before long, though, Merle decided to follow his passion, and in the 70's, learned the art of shoeing horses. He worked on thoroughbred race horses, and traveled all around the United States. He also spent a number of years in Alaska, where he assembled his own on-site saw mill and built a home with trees he cut down himself. In the late 90s, he returned to the Erie area and spent time tinkering in his garage, lending a hand to anyone who needed it. He was an avid outdoorsman, and loved farming, hunting, horses, and gardening. Some of his favorite memories were spent hunting with lifelong friends, and of course, his son Jeff. Merle is now reunited with his son, who tragically passed away just over a year ago.Show more

Kamar de los Reyes was born on November 8, 1967, and passed away on Christmas Eve in 2023 after a brief battle with cancer. He was best known for his role as Raul Menendez in Treyarch's Call of Duty: ...Black Ops II. He also reprised the same role in Call of Duty: Black Ops IV and Sledgehammer's Call of Duty: Vanguard. He also appeared on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, and other shows and films including All American, Sleepy Hollow, and The Gifted. Kamar was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew up in Las Vegas, where he developed a love of singing and dancing. He moved to LA to chase his dreams of being an entertainer.Show more

James McCaffrey was born on March 27, 1958 and passed away on December 17, 2023 at the age of 65. He was an actor and voice actor, best known for his role as Jimmy Keefe in the game Rescue Me and Max ...Payne in the Max Payne video games. James was born in Albany, and was a member of The Actors Studio since 1987. He started his own theater company, The Workhouse Theatre, in Tribeca, Manhattan. He appeared on TV in episodes of Civil Wars, Dick Wolf's Swift Justice, Law & Order: Crominal Intent and SVU, As The World Turns, and many more, including a few movies. In the toy industry, James voice Max Payne from the title character series, Tom Payne and Alex Casey in Alan Wake and Zachariah Trench for Control.Show more