Toy Industry Hall of Fame: Voting Opens this Week for the 2020 Inductees

August 19, 2019 | Toy Association members are invited to cast their votes for the inductees into the 2020 Toy Industry Hall of Fame. Voting will open Wednesday, August 21 through Friday, September 20.

Ballots will be emailed this week to all eligible voters; to request a link to the ballot please email The Toy Association’s Akshata Hase.

Of the six candidates, a maximum of three nominees will be selected out of the voting for induction. The candidates for induction are:

Living:

  • Thomas G. Murdough, Jr., founder, Little Tikes/Step2/Simplay3
  • Thomas Chan, Founder, CEO, Playmates Toys Inc.
  • William C. Killgallon, chairman, The Ohio Art Company

Deceased:

  • Harry Kislevitz, founder, Colorforms Corporation
  • Margarete Steiff, founder and creator, Steiff
  • Sidney Tepper, toy inventor, Toy Design and Development (multiple companies)

The Toy Industry Hall of Fame was established in 1984 to recognize people – from toy inventors to toy retailers – who made significant contributions to toys and play. The opportunity to honor these individuals is a special tradition for The Toy Association and its members. Past inductees include Ruth Handler, Jim Henson, George Lucas, and Joan Ganz Cooney, among many others. This year’s candidates were chosen from a slate of highly-qualified nominees submitted for consideration by members of the Association’s Hall of Fame Committee.

Designated points of contact at Toy Association member companies, former Hall of Fame inductees, and recent Toy Association Board Members are invited to rank their choices in both the living and posthumous categories. In the defined pool of respondents, no single organization shall have more than one vote.

An announcement of the 2020 inductees will be made in early December. The Toy Industry Hall of Fame induction will take place during the Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards ceremony on Friday, February 21, 2020 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.

More information on the Toy Industry Hall of Fame is available online.