Really Insane Partyer

Illustration of Dracula getting out of purple coffin. Black text on white background.

Russell Berrie (1933-2003) was a businessman at heart. He began his career as a toy salesman in 1956, which ignited his passion for the toy industry. Berrie envisioned selling inexpensive toys and knick-knacks in the checkout lanes at grocery stores, targeting impulse shoppers and children. Berrie started his own business—Russ Berrie & Company—inside a rented garage in 1963 with just $500. With the company's eye-catching easy-to-grab toys, sales grew to a soaring 1 million dollars by the late 1960s. Russ Berrie & Company went on to release numerous successful toys: the Bupkis Family and troll dolls, ultimately becoming a multi-million dollar company. The company’s success continued, partnering with other toy brands, including Barbie, Carter’s, and Disney, to create popular toys under licensing agreements. 

Russell Berrie was also a philanthropist, giving back to the community and expressing gratitude for his success. One of Berrie’s largest contributions was a grant of $13.5 million to build the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University. After Berrie died in 2003, the business experimented with several mergers, ultimately leading to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. In 2011, other toy companies purchased the remaining rights of Russ Berrie & Company.