Originally published by the Los Angeles Times. Photographer unknown. Restored by Adam Cuerden · CC BY 4.0

Invented the Barbie doll in 1959, betting correctly that girls wanted a toy modeled on an adult rather than a baby, and co-founded Mattel with her husband, serving as its first president for three decades. The doll became one of the best-selling toys in history and made her a rare woman running a major American manufacturer in the mid-twentieth century. She was forced to resign in 1975 after an SEC investigation found the company had falsified financial records; she later founded a company making prosthetic breast forms after her own mastectomy.