Reuben Klamer, the inventor of Milton Bradley’s The Game of Life board recreation and the designer of a Starfleet phaser rifle for the unique Star Trek TV sequence, died at his residence in La Jolla, California on Tuesday on the age of 99, in line with the Toy Association.

Klamer was commissioned to create The Game of Life by the Milton Bradley toy firm, now owned by Hasboro, within the late Fifties and the board recreation was first unveiled on the 1960 International Toy Fair. The Game of Life is estimated to have offered over 70 million copies worldwide, in line with People of Play.

Klamer created lots of of video games and toys throughout his profession, together with Magic Moon Rocks (launched in 1959), the Art Linkletter Hula Hoop, and Fisher-Price Preschool Trainer Skates, amongst a bunch of others. But Klamer additionally designed props for tv, together with a gun for the hit Sixties sequence The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the unique 1966 model of Star Trek.

Klamer recorded a video when his unique Starfleet phaser rifle, lengthy regarded as misplaced to historical past, was found and auctioned off in 2013. Apparently Klamer was approached to supply the rifle in two weeks, one thing he recollects appeared “impossible,” however he was capable of pull it off.

“With a gift for anticipating and capitalizing on trends, developing consumer ‘must-haves’ across categories and working in a variety of media, Klamer’s products have been marketed by industry leaders in more than 60 countries on six continents,” the Toy Association mentioned in an announcement revealed online.

“He is perhaps best known as the originator of the modern The Game of Life, which in 1981 became part of the permanent Archives of Family Life at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and is second in popularity only to Monopoly.”

Klamer served within the Pacific theater throughout World War II, in line with People of Play, and was tremendously pleased with his service:

Mr. Klamer was born on June 20, 1922 to Romanian Jewish immigrants, Rachel (Levenson) and Joseph Klamer, and reared in Canton, Ohio. He studied social sciences at George Washington University and acquired a B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University. Additionally, he accomplished electives in engineering on the University of Michigan after becoming a member of the U.S. Navy V-7 Program. A proud veteran, he graduated from the U.S. Navy Midshipman School at Northwestern University and distinguished himself in fight as an officer within the U.S. Navy amphibious touchdown forces within the Pacific throughout World War II.

Klamer has 4 youngsters, Pamela, Andrew, Jonathan, and Jeff, in addition to three grandchildren, Jasmine, Cameron and Atlas, in line with Legacy.com.