Henry Orenstein, the man credited for inventing the hugely popular Transformers toy franchise, has died. He was 98 years old, and reportedly passed away peacefully at his home in New Jersey.
A Polish immigrant and Holocaust survivor, Orenstein moved to the United States after World War II, and started working for the toy company Hasbro. He worked on a range of products here, including Johnny Lightning racing cars and Betty The Beautiful Bride dolls.
He's also credited with having revolutionized professional poker broadcasts. Later in his life, Orenstein invented a glass tabletop compartment that would allow networks to show games in which the audience at home, but not the other players, could see the cards. He would ultimately become a star player himself, and was inducted into the Poker Hall Of Fame in 2008.
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Orenstein held more than 100 patents throughout his life, most notably the Transformers toy line. He was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. Yes, that's two separate hall of fame inductions in the span of two years.
"Henry basically had a sense that Transformers was going to be something that would be transformational for the toy industry," former Hasbro executive Alan Hassenfeld told Newsweek back in 2016. "To be able to take a car and, with a little bit of dexterity, change it into another toy, that was something magical."
Transformers has, of course, grown beyond a line of toys and into a mega franchise in its own right. Movies, video games, comic books, and so much more have spawned from Orenstein's original idea. Just another impressive legacy for a man who leaves behind a long line of legacies.
Featured Image Credit: HasbroTopics: Transformers