- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRuth Marianna Mosko
- Ruth Handler was born on November 4, 1916 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was a writer and producer, known for The Barbie Diaries: High School Mystery (2006), Barbie: Pet Rescue (2001) and Detective Barbie: Mystery of the Carnival Caper (1998). She was married to Elliot Handler. She died on April 27, 2002 in Century City, California, USA.
- SpouseElliot Handler(June 26, 1938 - April 27, 2002) (her death, 2 children)
- ParentsJacob MoskowiczIda Rubenstein
- Children: Barbara and Ken
- Creator of the Barbie doll.
- Born Ruth Mosko, she was the youngest of 10 children of Polish immigrants who settled in Denver. Her father was a blacksmith who deserted the Russian army. Her mother was illiterate when she arrived in the United States in the steerage section of the steamship. Her mother's health was so frail that Mrs.Handler was reared by an older sister. Ruth was 19 when she left Denver for a vacation in Hollywood and wound up staying. Her high school sweetheart, Elliot Handler, followed her west and married her in 1938.
- Survived by a brother, five grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
- She was found to have breast cancer in 1970 and had her left breast removed. She later developed a line of artificial breasts made of foam and silicon that she called "Nearly Me". She ran the breast prosthesis company, Ruthton Corporation, for 15 years, before selling it to a division of Kimberly-Clark.
- My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.
- Every little girl needed a doll through which to project herself into her dream of her future. If she was going to do role playing of what she would be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll that had a flat chest. So I gave it beautiful breasts.
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