Elliot Handler He was survived by his 70-year-old daughter Barbara. Ruth Handler died in 2002. Elliot Handler Elliot Handler (April 9, 1916 – July 21, 2011) was an American inventor, businessman, and co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, he developed some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie, Chatty Cathy, Creepy Crawlers, and Hot Wheels. Handler was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 1916, and grew up in Denver, Colorado. He studied industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In 1929, he met his future wife Ruth Mosko at a
Evan Handler scene and struck Handler on the backside. Handler responded later, stating, "I removed myself from the production because from the first day of rehearsals I have endured the show's producers condoning Nicol Williamson's persistent abusiveness to other cast members." Handler's understudy continued the performance, for which Gregory Peck and Elaine Stritch were in attendance. Handler is also an author. His first book, "Time On Fire: My Comedy of Terrors", tells the story of his unlikely recovery from acute myeloid leukemia in his mid-20s. His second, "It's Only Temporary...The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive", tells the story