Greg Hyman was an inventor who created one of the biggest toys to ever hit the market, Tickle Me Elmo. The toy started as a collaboration with Ron Dubren, who wanted to create a giggling plushie. Together, they created Tickles the Chimp. However, a Tyco executive believed the technology would work better with a popular character from Sesame Street.
However, since the company didn’t have the proper license to create Sesame Street characters at first, Hyman started working on Tickle Me Taz instead, since the company did have a plush license for Looney Tunes characters.
Luckily, the company ended up acquiring the proper license to make Tickle Me Elmo possible. According to the Seattle Times, "What followed was retail mayhem. The first Tickle Me Elmos arrived in toy stores during the summer of 1996. Tyco initially produced 400,000, all of which were sold out by the day after Thanksgiving. As the company scrambled to make more, deploying Boeing 747s to deliver them, there were reports of frantic parents ambushing toy store employees and each other. A clerk at a Walmart in Canada was trampled by a scrum of shoppers as he unpacked a late-night shipment, suffering a broken rib and a concussion."
However, this wasn’t the only popular toy that Hyman invented. He was also responsible for inventing Talking Barney, which was released in 1993, and Alphie the Robot, which was popular in the ‘80s.
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According to his obituary, his love of inventing started when he was young. “Greg's interest in all sorts of electronics consumed his life early on,” the statement said. “Greg even offered his classmates lessons in how to invent. At 11 years old, he sold ‘Rocket Ship’ rides in a discarded washing machine with a baby carriage cockpit. Other family lore stories are the exploding toilet set prank he played on Jean and the talking surplus WWII bomb used as a promotional curiosity at a local theater. As a kid, Greg had an entrepreneurial talent that grew from offering those inventing lessons to providing worms to avid fishermen.”
The statement went on to list out his many accomplishments: “His work has earned several awards, including the 2007 Toy of the Year, Tickle Me Elmo TMX, an induction into the Hasbro Inventor's Hall of Fame for Baby All Gone, and recognition from Playskool for inventing Talking Barney, the largest-volume producing toy in a single year.”
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As Hyman once stated, "To be an inventor is an honor. This country was founded on invention. There are no courses you can take to do this."
Hyman’s partner, Deborah Nelson, confirmed his death. However, the cause of death was not stated.
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