Inventor of ‘The Game of Life’ and Prop Designer for Star Trek Dies at 99

“With a gift for anticipating and capitalizing on trends, developing consumer ‘must-haves’ across categories and working in a variety of media, Klamer’s products have been marketed by industry leaders in more than 60 countries on six continents,” the Toy Association said in a statement published online.

“He is perhaps best known as the originator of the modern The Game of Life, which in 1981 became part of the permanent Archives of Family Life at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and is second in popularity only to Monopoly.”

Klamer served in the Pacific theater during World War II, according to People of Play, and was tremendously proud of his service:

Mr. Klamer was born on June 20, 1922 to Romanian Jewish immigrants, Rachel (Levenson) and Joseph Klamer, and reared in Canton, Ohio. He studied social sciences at George Washington University and received a B.S. in Business Administration from The Ohio State University. Additionally, he completed electives in engineering at the University of Michigan after joining the U.S. Navy V-7 Program. A proud veteran, he graduated from the U.S. Navy Midshipman School at Northwestern University and distinguished himself in combat as an officer in the U.S. Navy amphibious landing forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Klamer has four children, Pamela, Andrew, Jonathan, and Jeff, as well as three grandchildren, Jasmine, Cameron and Atlas, according to Legacy.com.