Rest In Play - 2020 - 2029

Alton Thacker was born on October 19, 1935 and passed away on November 26, 2024. He was best known as the founder of Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids. Alton was born in Utah and grew up working a var...iety of odd jobs. He married his high school sweetheart two days after high school graduation, and he and Cheryl Kay Remington went on to have eight children together and were married for over 70 years. Most of Alton's career was spent as a barber. He opened Al's Style Shop and cut hair for almost 30 years. After he retired, he founded Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids in 1996. Tiny Tim's came about after several trips to Mexico with a group of Utah eye doctors who collected used eyeglasses and traveled to Mexico to fit them to people who needed them but couldn't afford them. On these trips, Alton noticed many children who didn't have any toys, and resolved to do something about it. He started making wooden toy cards. The first year, Alton and Cheryl made about 400 toy cars in their garage. They made many trips to Mexico over the years, and soon Tiny Tim's expanded to building more than 100,000 toy cars a year with more than 1,000 volunteers. In total, Tiny Tim's has given more than 1.7 million toy cars to children in more than 110 countries around the world.Show more

Charles Burchell Phillips passed away on November 7, 2022 at the age of 78. Charles was born in Jamaica but moved to live with his grandfather in New Jersey at the age of 13 for middle school. He ...then moved back to Jamaica for high school, and then attended Howard University in the States for college. After graduating, he worked for Ford Motor Company's Experimental Garage for two years, where new car styling features were explored. He then went on to work for Ideal Toy Company. After that, he developed new games and consulted with other game inventors. Some of his games include Advance to Boardwalk, Free Parking, M.A.G.S., I Vant To Bite Your Finger, and Clue Jr. These were all produced and sol by Hasbro and Parker Brothers. Independently, he designed and produced BUX. Charles loved animals, cars, Jamaican food, running, watching football, and of course, his family and friends. He will be deeply and dealy missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Rickie Paley, who helped design clothing for Barbie, passed away on December 30, 2024. Rickie was born during the Great Depression and started working at her parents toy, furniture, and bike store ...in New York at a young age. She didn't have the means to pay for college, but prided herself on being a self-taught graduate of "Street University," as she liked to call it. She began her career by leaving New York City for Seattle, Washington, where she took a job as a trainee in the retail fashion sector at Frederick & Nelson, part of Marshall Field & Company. In 1950, Rickie received the of a lifetime from Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel. She asked her to join the company and market Barbie. Rickie realized that the marketing magic behind Barbie is not in the doll itself, but in the outfits and accessories, and this genius concept is what made Barbie such a success. Rickie married Sid Paley, a real estate developer, who convinced her she had a knack for selling homes. Rickie sold 372 starter homes over the course of her career as a real estate agent. Rickie was also very involved in Sarasota's Jewish community, and is fondly remembered by all those who knew and loved her.Show more

Martyn Brown, co-founder of Team17, passed away on December 28, 2024. He was 57 years old. His son, Jack Brown, announced the news of his passing with the following message: "Martyn passed away pe...acefully in his sleep at 8:17am, 28th of December, 2024 surrounded by family, following a prolonged battle with a series of strokes. Know that he went out on his own terms listening to his favourite music and surrounded by loved ones." Martyn co-founded Team17 with Debbie Bestwick and Michael Robinson in 1990. He helped create more than 50 video games over the course of his career, including Worms and Alien Breed. He also formed consultancy Insight for Hire and helped support studios Double Eleven, Exient, The Blast Furnace, and New Star Games.Show more

Mike Gull passed away in November 2024. Mike was known for his 40+ year career in the television broadcasting industry, most of which he spent at GMTV, now known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited.... Friends and colleagues described him as an expert in the media world—the leading kids' broadcaster in the UK. Mike, along with his close friend and colleague Clive Crouch, sought to establish partnerships across the toy community as well, which was quite revolutionary compared to competitors, who forged these relationships through ad agencies and media companies. Mike is remembered as a larger than life kind of guy who brought warmth, humor, and connection to every interaction. He will be deeply and dearly missed by all those that knew and loved him.Show more

Britt Allcroft, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, was born on December 14, 1943 and passed away on December 25, 2024. She was 81 years old. Britt was born Hilary Mary Allcroft Coote. Gro...wing up, she shared a home with an aunt who often told stories of her daily commute on the train, which sparked Britt's love of trains at a young age. She changed her name to Britt at age 16, when her British radio and television presence gained momentum. She ended up creating a bunch of popular programmes for BBC and ITV throughout the 1970s and 1980s, like Moon Clue Game and Dance Crazy. In 1979, Britt was making a documentary about British steam locomotives when she was introduced to Wilbert Awdry, author of The Railway Series, a children's book series. She told him that she wanted to bring his stories to life and secured rights through his publishers at the time, Kaye & Ward. The next year, she co-founded Britt Allcroft Railway Productions, later known as The Britt Allcroft Company, with her husband, Angus Weight, who was a television producer. Four years later, the first two episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends debuted, with narration by Ringo Starr and music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. The series was an immediate hit, and Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends became a franchise that is still popular among kids today, decades later. Britt and her husband Angus were married from 1973 until 1997. They had two children together.Show more

Matilde Brualdi Clementoni passed away on November 18, 2024 at the age of 93. Originally from Pesaro in Italy, Matilde moved to Recanti to pursue an entrepreneurial dream. She and her husband, Mari...o, co-founded Clementoni, a family owned Italian business specializing in toys and games. In the late 1990s, Matilde and Mario left their business to their four children, who still head the company. The first board game and the founding of Clementoni came in the early 1960s, and has only grown since then, holding true to the mantra that began with Matilde and Mario: "to stir emotions in children as they grow through play."Show more

Amber Cook passed away unexpectedly on October 25, 2024. Amber's career was spent within the toy industry: she mostly worked behind-the-scenes roles in business development and branding for dozens ...of games. She worked for companies including Looney Labs, Asmodee Group, and Roll20. She was also involved in the re-launch of Free RPG Day, and was a founding member of the American Tabletop Awards. She was the fundraising co-hair for Rose Gauntlet Foundation, and was playing a crucial role in the rebranding of her partner's store, Games and Stuff. Amber leaves behind her partner, Paul Alexander Butler, and her six-year-old son, James. As Paul describes her, she was "one f the brightest, most selfless and hard-working people" and "a natural leader and a titan in the tabletop games industry." She was "a champion of misfits and underdogs, Amber made every room she was in safer for those around her, was outspoken in pursuit of justice no matter the personal cost, and was a testament to pursuing a career of passion without ego - working hard every day not only to support her son, but to make the world a bit more beautiful, and a bit more playful for everyone."Show more

Chris Wiggs, inventor of Polly Pocket, was born in 1950 and passed away on June 20th, 2024. He was 74. Chris came up with the idea for Polly Pocket in 1983 while visiting New York. When he returned... home to France, he went straight to his workshop and brought the concept to life for his daughter, Kate, using an old makeup powder compact. Kate recalls that her father making her things like this was a regular occurrence—"the most natural thing in the world," she called it. Polly Pocket wasn't anything more than Kate's plaything until 1989, when Chris rediscovered his creation and thought that he might be able to make something big. Soon, Bluebird Toys licensed the toys, and in the late 1990s, Mattel acquired both Bluebird Toys and Polly Pocket, and in its new home at Mattel, Polly Pocket became incredibly successful. Outside of inventing, Chris loved music and spending time with his family: his wife, Carolyn, his daughter, Kate, his son, Ben, and five grandchildren.Show more

Ranjit Kaur Dhutti passed away surrounded by her family on October 24, 2024 after a year-long illness. Ranjit began her career in the toy industry at Leap Frog, before moving to Spin Master in 2015.... She spent seven years there and played a role in the launch of numerous well-known brands including Hatchimals, Colleggtibles, and Purse Pets. In 2022, she joined MGA as a manager for LOL Surprise!, and immediately put her marketing skills to work with LOL Surprise! Magic Flyers, which were hugely successful and went on to win a DreamToys Award in 2023.Show more