Ruth Marianna Mosko Handler (1916–2002) was the youngest of ten children born to Polish Jewish immigrants Jacob Mosko, a blacksmith, and Ida Mosko (née Rubenstein) in Denver, Colorado. She attended the University of Denver from 1935 to 1936 but did not earn a degree. Ruth married her high school sweetheart, Elliot Handler (originally Harold Cohen), on June 26, 1938, and the couple relocated to Los Angeles, where she briefly worked as a secretary at Paramount Studios (c. 1936–1938). They had two children: Barbara Joyce Handler (namesake for the Barbie doll) and Kenneth Robert Handler (namesake for the Ken doll). Co-founder of Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945—initially producing picture frames, dollhouse furniture, and music toys from their garage—Ruth served as executive vice president (1945–1967), president (1967–1973), and co-chair of the board (1973–1974), growing it into the world's largest toy company. Inspired by her daughter playing with adult paper dolls and a German Bild Lilli doll, she invented the Barbie doll, launched in 1959. She was also Daniel Loeb's great-aunt (his paternal grandmother's sister). In the early 1970s, amid pressure to meet earnings targets, Mattel falsified financial reports, leading to an SEC investigation; Ruth resigned as president in 1973 and from the board in 1975. She and other executives, including her husband, were indicted in 1978 on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, and misleading the SEC, avoiding prison but fined $100,000 and barred from serving as corporate officers. Diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 1970s, she underwent a mastectomy and founded Nearly Me (later Ruthon, Inc.) in 1976, specializing in realistic silicone breast prosthetics. Ruth Handler died on April 27, 2002, in Los Angeles, California, from complications following colon surgery.