Ex-Slinky CEO Remembered As Business Icon
Slinky icon Betty James is remembered as a pioneer in Hollidaysburg with a legacy fit for Broadway.
Betty (Mattas) James, co-founder and former owner of James Industries Inc., the maker of Slinky Toys, died Thursday evening at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia.”She was an icon in the community because of that business,” Blair County Commissioner Diane Meling said. ”What kid didn’t grow up with a Slinky?”
James, 90, of Hollidaysburg was born in Altoona, graduated from Altoona High School and attended Penn State University.
In 1945, she co-founded what would become the Slinky empire with her husband, the late Richard James.
She took over management of the company in 1959, moved it from Philadelphia to Bellwood in 1961 and then to Hollidaysburg in 1965.
She retired in 1998. Today the company is called POOF-Slinky Inc.
The mother of six received numerous national, state and local accolades, honors and awards, and was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2001.
Image by InfoMofo.
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