Sandy Kozel

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) –  Donald Levine, the Hasbro executive credited as the
father of G.I. Joe for developing the world’s first action figure, has died.

He died of cancer early Thursday at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island. His
wife Nan said they were just about to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

Levine shepherded the toy through design and development as Hasbro’s head
of research and development.

Credit for the invention of Silly Putty is disputed. It has been attributed to Earl
Warrick, of the then newly formed Dow Corning in 1943 and also Harvey Chin;
and James Wright, a Scottish inventor working for General Electric in New
Haven,  Connecticut.Throughout his life, Warrick insisted that he and his
colleague, Rob Roy McGregor, received the patent for Silly Putty before
Wright did; but Crayola’s history of Silly Putty states that Wright invented
it first.

In 1961 Silly Putty went worldwide, becoming a hit in the Soviet Union and
Europe. In 1968 it was taken into lunar orbit by the Apollo 8 astronauts.

Silly Putty was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2001.