James, former head of Slinky company, dies

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Retired James Industries Inc. Chief Executive Officer Betty James, whose company made the wiry Slinky toy, has died in Philadelphia, an official says.

Blair County Commissioner Diane Meling remembered James as a prominent community member who helped create one of the most memorable toys in the history of the United States, the Altoona (Pa.) Mirror reported Saturday.

''She was an icon in the community because of that business,'' Meling said of James, who died Thursday at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. ''What kid didn't grow up with a Slinky?''

James founded the toy company with her late husband Richard in 1945 and helped manage the company and its wiry creations until she retired in 1998.

Her company is now known as POOF-Slinky Inc., but still creates the coil-shaped toys that were known for using its own momentum to move about.

The only survivor identified by the Mirror for James, whose cause of death was not specified, was her son Tom.