LOS ANGELES, April 28 (UPI) -- Ruth Handler, the co-founder of Mattel and creator of the world famous Barbie doll, has died. She was 85.
Her husband, Elliot, told the Los Angeles Times Sunday that she died at Century City Hospital from complications after an operation three months ago for colon cancer.
Handler, one of 10 children born to a Polish immigrant family in Denver, Colo., created Mattel with her husband, initially as a company selling household items.
She created Barbie after noting that her young daughter preferred to play with cutout pictures of adult fashion models than toy babies. The doll was also named for her daughter.
Barbie, a teenage doll with a tiny waist, slender hips and impressive bust, became the best-selling toy with more than 1 billion sold in 150 countries. The doll, first introduced at a 1959 toy show in New York City, has also been attacked by feminists and showcased in the Smithsonian Institution.
"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be," Handler wrote in her 1994 autobiography. "Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices."
Mattel sold more than 350,000 Barbie dolls the first year, which retailed for $3, the Times said.
In later years, Barbie was joined on store shells by friends and family. Ken, named for the Handlers' son, appeared in 1961; Midge in 1963; Skipper in 1965; and African American doll Christie, Barbie's first ethnic friend, in 1969. The first black Barbie arrived in 1981.
Other dolls were named for Handler's grandchildren, including Stacie, Todd and Cheryl.
Her son Ken died of a brain tumor in 1994. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, her daughter, Barbara Segal, one brother, Aaron Mosko; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
