Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Lite-Brite creator Burt Meyer dies

The creator of many of our favorite childhood toys has died.

Burt Meyer was 99.

He died on Oct. 30 at a retirement community in Burr Ridge, Illinois, The New York Times reported.

Meyer worked at Marvin Glass & Associates, a Chicago toy studio, when he created toys and games such as Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Lite-Brite, Toss Across and Mouse Trap, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

Some of his toys crossed generations. The robots, produced in 1966, saw a resurgence in 1999 when “Toy Story 2″ was released. Lite-Brite, first sold in 1967, became popular once again thanks to season 4 of “Stranger Things,” the newspaper reported.

His son said he was proud of the toys and joy he brought to children with the Lite-Brite.

“He was very happy and pleased with Lite-Brite and how it’s brought joy to people,” Steve Meyer told the Sun Times. “That what his life was about — bringing joy to the world.”

The elder Meyer was born in Hinsdale, Illinois but spent his younger years in Massachusetts. After serving in the Navy from 1944 to 1946, he used his GI Bill to study art at West Georgia College, then went to The New Bauhaus and the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, before teaching at the Atlanta Art Institute. After a stint there, he left teaching and went to work for the toy studio, where he found his calling.

He retired in the 1980s for a bit, but then started his own company, Meyer/Glass Design, and produced games including Pretty Pretty Princess, Catch Phrase and Gooey Louie, The New York Times reported.

Burt Meyer leaves behind a legacy of play, along with a large family: two sons, his daughter, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, the Times reported.