Who Founded Mattel?

Ruth Handler co-founded Mattel in 1945 with her husband Elliot Handler and Harold Matson in a Los Angeles garage. She ran much of the business side and pushed Mattel into year-round television advertising on The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955. Inspired by her daughter Barbara's play with paper dolls of adult women, she developed Barbie, launched in March 1959 despite doubts from colleagues. She named the doll after Barbara and the Ken doll (1961) after her son Kenneth. The Handlers left Mattel in the mid-1970s, and Ruth later founded Nearly Me, a maker of breast prostheses, after her own breast cancer surgery. She died in 2002. Ruth Handler was born in 1916.

Elliot Handler co-founded Mattel in 1945 with his wife Ruth and Harold Matson; the company name combines 'Matt' and 'Elliot'. A designer by training, he focused on product ideas while Ruth handled much of the business. Early hits included the Uke-A-Doodle toy ukulele, and he championed Hot Wheels die-cast cars, launched in 1968. He led Mattel alongside Ruth until the couple left the company in the mid-1970s. He died in 2011.

Elliot Handler was born in 1916 in Chicago. Education: Art Center College of Design.

Harold 'Matt' Matson co-founded Mattel with Elliot Handler in 1945, and his nickname supplied the first half of the company's name. He worked on the early picture frames and dollhouse furniture, then sold his stake to the Handlers within a couple of years because of poor health. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).