Isaac Heller

Isaac Heller was born on July 23, 1926 in Ellenville, New York, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Morris Heller and Yetta Shapiro.[1][2][3] Heller moved with his family to Brooklyn, where he attended Brooklyn Technical High School as part of the class of 1943; he donated $1 million to his alma mater and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2013.[4] After attending Cooper Union, he served in the United States Navy at the end of World War II, where he worked on the repair of electronic equipment and built toys using excess work materials.[1]

In 1949, he co-founded the toy company Remco in Newark, New Jersey, with his cousin Saul Robbins.[5][6] The name was a contraction of "REMote COntrol", and its first products were children's walkie-talkies.[6] Building on his experience as a U.S. Navy electronics technician, they started by buying large amounts of military surplus and "transforming it into toys that could zoom, soar or otherwise move."[1]

Until the 1960s, they only made toys for boys, and they were the first toy company to use television advertising.[6] Their toys included the Whirlybird helicopter, the Barracuda atomic submarine, the Johnny Reb cannon, the Dick Tracy wrist radio, the Screaming Mee Mee-e rifle and Mr. Kelly's Automatic Car Wash.[1]

In 1953, Heller married Helaine Hirsh, and they had four daughters.[2][1]

Heller died at his home in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, on March 7, 2015, and was survived by his wife and four daughters, Audrey Romberg, Laurie Kaufman, Hollie Heller and Hillary Granfield.[1]