Sad news this week as the toy industry mourns the loss of Art Janis, executive vice president of sales at WowWee.
WowWee sent the following message in remembrance:
Dear Artie,
It has been an honor to have you in our lives. You were there from the very beginning, always positive, always smiling, always honest, always giving it your all … one of the “goodest” souls we have ever encountered. Your loyalty to anyone you called friend was unwavering, you have always been our shining example of what it means to be decent, caring, and most of all real. We have so many loving memories of how you helped build and touch all our lives, including the succession of WowWee itself with the large fingerprint you have left both generationally on our family and everyone within our organization. We suspect the reason why your heart gave out is because you have given it to so many of us — it is the reason why you will never ever be out of our thoughts and out of our lives. We know how phobic you were to being nothing less than the vibrant, never better attitude you always brought with you everywhere you went, and we take some comfort knowing that you would never want to exist without being able to operate at full capacity … which is motoring through an airport while picking up dessert and a Coke, phone in hand watching the Yankees. Please know that you will be severely missed and never forgotten.
Rest in peace our dear friend, uncle to the kids, loved by everyone at WowWee especially your HK brothers and sisters (Mark Ng, Fion, Gloria, Anita, Steven to name a few), and most of all your beautiful wife, Marina.
With much love always,
Your WowWee family
