Ruth Handler Club children's television show, Mattel invested heavily in television advertising. The TV commercials for the Barbie doll paid off and Barbie rocketed Mattel and the Handlers to fame and fortune. Subsequently, they would add a boyfriend for Barbie named Ken, after the Handlers' son, and many other "friends and family" to Barbie's world. Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. She had a modified radical mastectomy, which was often used at the time to combat the disease, and because of difficulties in finding a good breast prosthesis, she decided to make her own. Handler went on to found a
Daniel Handler Student Poet Prize, which he claims was earned by ripping off Elizabeth Bishop. He is an alumnus of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. He is married to Lisa Brown, a graphic artist whom he met in college. They have a son, Otto Handler, born in 2003. They live in an old Edwardian house in San Francisco. Handler is politically active and helped form LitPAC. In the June 10, 2007 edition of "The New York Times Magazine", Handler revealed ambivalence toward his wealth and the expectations that it creates. He stated that he is often asked for money for charitable causes