Charles Lazarus, who transformed his father’s Washington bicycle business into Toys R Us, a retail giant that rivaled Santa Claus’s workshop as one of the world’s largest distributors of games, dolls, stuffed animals and other children’s goodies before it declared bankruptcy in September, died on Thursday. He was 94.
A Toys R Us spokeswoman confirmed the death but did not provide additional details.
Lazarus was 25 when he founded what became Toys R Us, his “supermarket for toys,” in 1948. Over six decades, the company grew into an international empire with a flagship store in New York’s Times Square, a giraffe mascot named Geoffrey and an earworm jingle: “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid.”
The “Toy King,” as Lazarus was christened in headlines, stepped down as chief executive in 1994. His company soon became mired in a pitched battle against big-box retailers such as Walmart, founded by his friend Sam Walton, and e-commerce giants such as Amazon.
Acquired by private equity firms in 2005, it eventually took on $7.9 billion of debt, according to bankruptcy filings. Last week, it announced it would sell or close all 735 of its U.S. stores.
Lazarus had weathered countless industry changes over the years to become one of America’s highest-performing, best-paid business leaders. A hands-on executive who once tested baby toys by hanging mobiles over cribs, he steered his company from bikes to baby furniture to toys, later adding children’s clothes and video games.
He opened his first toys-only store in 1957 in Rockville, Md.