Alan G. Hassenfeld, a famend philanthropist and former CEO of iconic toy firm Hasbro Inc., the maker of G.I. Joe and Play-Doh, has died. He was 76, in accordance with the toy firm.
Hasbro, the nation’s second largest toy firm behind Mattel primarily based on annual gross sales, declined to supply extra particulars. Hassenfeld’s household basis, Hassenfeld Household Initiatives, wasn’t instantly accessible to remark.
Hassenfeld was born in Windfall, Rhode Island and graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. He obtained an undergraduate arts diploma from the College of Pennsylvania in 1970. Upon commencement, he joined the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based household enterprise in 1970. Hasbro was based in 1923, by Hassenfeld’s grandfather, Henry. Identified initially as Hassenfeld Brothers, it offered textile remnants however expanded into college provides and later toy manufacturing beneath the Hasbro title within the Nineteen Forties, in accordance with Hasbro’s web site. It went public in 1968.
Hassenfeld rose shortly within the household enterprise serving as particular assistant to the president and labored his means up the ranks. He grew to become one of many key architects of Hasbro’s worldwide operations and spent intensive time touring abroad. He was named govt vice chairman in 1980 and have become president in September 1984.
Hassenfeld labored for years within the shadow of his older brother Stephen. His brother’s dying of pneumonia in June 1989 at age 47, nonetheless, moved Hassenfeld into the place of chairman and chief govt officer.
Hassenfeld stepped down as CEO in 2003 and in August 2005, he retired from his chairman place and have become emeritus chairman. He stepped away from that function final yr. Hassenfeld was the final member of the family to sit down on the board, in accordance with Hasbro.
“All of us who’ve ever had any connection to Hasbro in the present day are mourning the profound lack of Alan Hassenfeld, our beloved former Chairman & CEO, mentor, and pricey pal, ” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks in an e-mailed assertion to The Related Press. “Alan’s huge coronary heart was, and can stay, the guiding pressure behind Hasbro — compassionate, imaginative, and devoted to bringing a smile to the face of each youngster all over the world. His tireless advocacy for philanthropy, kids’s welfare, and the toy trade created a legacy that may encourage us all the time.”
Hassenfeld was concerned in lots of charitable and social causes each nationally and domestically in Rhode Island. His considerations ranged from childhood starvation to points involving refugee settlement within the state. As chairman of the Hassenfeld Household Initiatives, he oversaw the muse’s mission of globalizing security and human rights throughout the space of youngsters’s merchandise; empowering girls in creating nations; and enhancing the economic system, training and enterprise alternatives in Rhode Island.
Hassenfeld was additionally founding benefactor of Hasbro Youngsters’s Hospital in Windfall, and his household’s contributions helped to determine the Hassenfeld Youngster Well being Innovation Institute at Brown College.
