March 23, 2018 | Bob Wann, chairman of The Toy Association Board of Directors and chief play monster at PlayMonster, LLC, shares his thoughts on Charles Lazarus, toy industry pioneer and founder of Toys“R”Us. Lazarus passed away on Thursday, March 22 at the age of 94.

This week, the toy community lost one of its pioneers and a true legend, Charles Lazarus, founder of Toys“R”Us. The Toy Association, our members, and the entire toy community are truly saddened by this loss.

Charles was a leader in our industry and a member of the Toy Industry Hall of Fame. He exemplified all the qualities on which the toy industry is built: entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. He understood what kids wanted and brought joy to millions of children worldwide for decades.

As toy companies, we look back with fond memories, not only for those of us who knew Charles. Some might have a memory of first breaking into the toy space with a Toys“R”Us exclusive, executing an exciting campaign in-store, or partnering to get a new, wacky idea on-shelf. But the memories are not just professional, they belong to us as parents and as children. In fact, it’s hard not to find one person (inside and outside of the industry) who does not have a special memory associated with the store – and we truly owe all of those memories to Charles.

It is somewhat ironic that we are saying goodbye to Charles Lazarus just as we are preparing to say goodbye to Toys”R”Us. But we can’t let the negative headlines impact how special this man was to our industry and to millions of kids and families around the world.

A fond farewell to Charles, the first Toys“R”Us kid, from myself, a current Toys”R”Us Kid, and all of the rest of us Toys“R”Us kids everywhere!