1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 19
Greg Hyman, an electronics-focused toy inventor who helped create Tickle Me Elmo, died May 1 at his home in Boca Raton, Florida, at 78.
Deborah Nelson, his partner, confirmed the death but did not provide a cause.
Hyman and Ron Dubren developed the tickling technology after Dubren proposed a toy with escalating laughter; Tyco then steered the concept from a giggling chimp to Elmo.
The 1996 Tickle Me Elmo became a sales-record smash, with its giggles, catchphrase — “That tickles!” — and vibration after three tickles helping make it a landmark toy craze.
What intellectual property secrets turned a giggling chimp concept into the global Tickle Me Elmo phenomenon?
Did the electronic toys of a celebrated inventor actually hinder the childhood creativity they were meant to inspire?