Jack Ryan (designer)
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Short description|American designer (1926–1991)}}
{{About|the designer|other uses|Jack Ryan (disambiguation){{!}}Jack Ryan}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jack Ryan
| image =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|11|12}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1991|08|13|1926|12|12}}
| death_place = Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| occupation = Designer
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Barbara Harris|August 21, 1950|1971|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Zsa Zsa Gabor|January 21, 1975|August 24, 1976|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Linda Henson|March 3, 1979|March 19, 1981|end=died}}
- {{marriage|Gari Hardy Lansing|July 18, 1981|1985|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Magda Orzechowski|August 16, 1985}}
}}
}}
Jack W. Ryan (November 12, 1926 – August 13, 1991) was an American designer. Ryan worked at toy company Mattel for 20 years, becoming the company's vice-president of research and development and subsequently working as a consultant. He was responsible for the Barbie doll, Hot Wheels and Chatty Cathy. He was the sixth husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor.{{cite news | title=Jack Ryan Dies at 65; Designer of Barbie Doll |agency=The Associated Press | newspaper=The New York Times | date=August 21, 1991 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/21/obituaries/jack-ryan-dies-at-65-designer-of-barbie-doll.html | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815112945/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/21/obituaries/jack-ryan-dies-at-65-designer-of-barbie-doll.html | archivedate=August 15, 2010 | url-status=live}}
Career
Ryan graduated from Yale University, after which he worked at aerospace company Raytheon as an engineer, working on the AIM-7 Sparrow and MIM-23 Hawk missiles.{{cite magazine | title=Jack Ryan and Zsa Zsa: A Millionaire Inventor and His Hungarian Barbie Doll | author=Richard Warren Lewis | date=July 14, 1975 | magazine=People | url=https://people.com/archive/jack-ryan-and-zsa-zsa-a-millionaire-inventor-and-his-hungarian-barbie-doll-vol-4-no-2/}}
Mattel hired him for his "space-aged savvy" and knowledge of materials.{{cite web | url=https://www.salon.com/1997/11/26/26facts/ | title=The Skinny on Barbie - Essential facts about her checkered past | author1=Lori Leibovich | author2=Suzette Lalime | date=November 26, 1997 | website=Salon}}
In 1956, Mattel co-owner Ruth Handler returned from a European vacation with a German-designed Bild Lilli doll. She and Ryan worked on producing a similar fashion doll for the American market (the two later disputed which of them was chiefly responsible for the doll's design).{{cite magazine | title=When Barbie Went to War with Bratz | magazine=The New Yorker | author=Jill Lepore | author-link=Jill Lepore | date=January 22, 2018 | url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/22/when-barbie-went-to-war-with-bratz}}
Ryan went on to lead Mattel's research and development department, with a research and development budget in 1962 of $1.5 million US dollars.{{cite book |editor1-last=Eiss |editor1-first=Harry Edwin |title=Images of the child |date=1994 |publisher=Bowling Green State University Popular Press |location=Bowling Green, OH |isbn=0879726547 |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6d-0zUTtbsC&dq=%22jack%20ryan%22%20%22Chatty%20Cathy%22%20voice&pg=PA195}} He developed Chatty Cathy, Ken, Hot Wheels and Larry the Lion and was involved in creating the voice systems for Chatty Cathy, Barbie and Larry the Lion.{{cite book |last1=Oppenheimer |first1=Jerry |title=Toy monster : the big, bad world of Mattel |date=2009 |publisher=Wiley |location=Hoboken, N.J. |isbn=978-0470371268 |pages=4, 14}}
Ryan worked on the V-rroom! X-15 velocipede which was named after the North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft and patented the V-RROOM! toy engines that simulated motorcycle engine sounds.{{citation-needed|date=March 2022}}
Ryan's relationship with Mattel soured and in 1980 he sued Mattel for royalties; the company settled out of court.
Death
Ryan suffered a debilitating stroke in 1989; he died by gun suicide on August 13, 1991.The Toys that Made Us - Season 1 - Episode 2{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-19-mn-571-story.html | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | title=Jack Ryan, 65; Toy Inventor, Missile Designer | date=August 19, 1991 | author=Myrna Oliver}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{S-start}}
|-
!colspan="3" style="background:#C1D8FF;"| Husband of a Gabor Sister
{{s-bef | before= Joshua S. Cosden Jr.}}
{{s-ttl | title = Zsa Zsa - Sixth | years = January 21, 1975 – August 24, 1976
Divorced}}
{{s-aft| after = Michael O'Hara}}
{{s-end}}
{{Barbie}}
{{Mattel}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Jack}}
Category:20th-century American engineers