Collector had distinguished career with toy company

In his 31-year career at Fisher-Price, Bruce Fox accomplished many things, including two lifetime achievement awards.

His story goes back to 1972, when he graduated from college. He could not find a job, and the economy was tight, he says, so he looked in the yellow pages for a company that might be hiring. He ended up with a job in retail at Woolco Department Store in Houston. He worked there for six years, working his way up to assistant general manager in charge of advertising for six stores for toys, records and books. He enjoyed working with toys.

Fisher-Price was growing rapidly at the time, and he loved their products. He had a good relationship with the sales representative, who ended up offering him a job.

"Retail was tough, so I couldn't wait," he says.

He went through four interviews because sales jobs for Fisher-Price were very exclusive, he says.

"They really liked me. I never thought I'd be a salesman, but I became a very good one ... because I understood what the buyer was going through on the other side of the desk."

He started his career at Fisher-Price in 1978, and in 1980 he was named salesman of the year. He was promoted that year, moving to Philadelphia, to be in charge of the company's second and third largest accounts.

In 1984 he began what would become an extensive toy collection, with 500 collectible Fisher-Price toys dating from 1931 to 1965. He purchased his first piece from an antique dealer for $1.20. Then he went to the corporate headquarters and made copies of all the past toy catalogs and made a binder. Before long he had 100, then 200, toys in his collection. In 1985 he was asked to speak to the company's Silver Dollar Club about his collection.

He created a slide show presentation, showing toys from 1931 to 1965 and different eras of the company. It was very well received by the Silver Dollar Club. Then in 1986, the general manager told Fox there was going to be a national sales meeting, and they wanted him to be the speaker. He doubled the amount of material in the presentation he gave to the Silver Dollar Club. Following that presentation, the general manager suggested he write a book. He would later present the slide show more than two dozen times to groups, historical societies, company factories and Fisher-Price college, which all people who sold Fisher-Price internationally attended at the home office in East Aurora, N.Y., to learn about the company.

Fox teamed up with John Murray, a color expert in charge of paint for plastics for toys, and together they wrote a book on the history of Fisher-Price from its beginning in 1931 to 1963. It was published in 1987.

One of the highlights of his career happened the previous year, in 1986. He received a lifetime achievement award named after Bill McAllister, who had been leader of the sales team and had died a few years earlier. Fox was the first recipient of the Bill McAllister Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1989, Kmart was growing, and Fox was moved to Detroit to work with Kmart. He had introduced Best Products, a line of baby products, to Kmart in 1984. Fisher-Price invented the baby monitor, and it was for sale in the toy department at Kmart. Fox convinced the toy department to let him move the baby monitors to the baby department, and they sold 10 times as many that way and opened the door to sell other Fisher-Price baby items such as car seats and high chairs . In 1990 Fisher-Price received the largest juvenile products (baby items) order it had ever received.

In 1994, Mattel bought Fisher-Price, which brought more people and more toy categories. Then in 1997 Mattel bought Tyco Preschool, which made licensed toys like Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street, Blue's Clues and others. With that expansion, the company became Fisher-Price Brands, and it needed a director of new business. Fox took on that role.

He moved to the home office in New York for five years. He was in charge of online companies including warehouse clubs and Viewmaster. He met with an online startup company called Amazon.com.

After five years, the vice president of the company got promoted to work with Walmart and asked Fox to move to Bentonville. In early 2003, Fox moved to Bentonville to be in charge of Fisher-Price's Walmart office and was there until he retired in early 2009.

In 2005 he was the spokesman for the company's 75th anniversary. There was a satellite truck at the headquarters at the Fisher-Price museum, and he gave a presentation to 17 morning shows from the East Coast to the West Coast. He also was on ABC television in New York at a Toys R Us store talking about the 75th anniversary and created a whole new speech for the president of Mattel and Fisher-Price and employees honoring the 75th anniversary.

When he retired in 2009, Fisher-Price gave him a lifetime achievement award. This is in addition to salesman of the year in 1980, 1984 and 1989; director of the year in 1999 and 2008 and the Bill McAllister Lifetime Achievement Award.

"It was a very rewarding career," he says. "I couldn't have written a better script for a career."

This year in July, he spent six weeks as a consultant selecting the toys for the Fisher-Price toy museum on Instagram in honor of the company's 90th anniversary. He chose 16 toys from every decade. Nine decades of toys may be viewed on Instagram at Fisher-Price Toy Museum. Fox was also recently on "CBS Sunday Morning" for the 90th anniversary on Dec. 20.