kid founded oakland new jersey 1963 founder russell berrie headquarters east rutherford new jersey key people guy paglinco cfo david sabin division president richard schaub jr. division president products infant and juvenile consumer products number of employees 304 website www.kidbrandsinc.com gregory a teddy bear made by russ berrie and co kid brands inc. nyse kid and its subsidiaries design develop and distribute infant and juvenile branded products . these products are distributed through mass market baby super stores specialty food drug independent and e commerce retailers worldwide . the company s operating business is composed of four wholly owned subsidiaries kids line llc ; lajobi inc. ; sassy inc. ; and cocalo inc. these subsidiaries design and market branded infant and juvenile products in a number of complementary categories including infant bedding and related nursery accessories and d cor food preparation and nursery appliances and diaper bags kids line and cocalo ; nursery furniture and related products lajobi ; and developmental toys and feeding bath and baby care items with features that address the various stages of an infant s early years sassy . in addition to the company s branded products the company also markets certain categories or products under various licenses including carter s disney graco and serta . kid brands was founded in 1963 and is based in east rutherford new jersey . the company has operations in southern california new jersey michigan and in some foreign countries . contents 1 history 2 shining stars 3 philanthropy 4 references 5 external links history edit the company formerly known as russ berrie and company was named after its founder the late mr. russell berrie 1933 2002 aged 69 1 originated as a maker of stuffed animals other toys and gifts . 2 as it transitioned into a pure play infant and juvenile company it acquired the following companies sassy inc. july 2002 kids line llc december 2004 cocalo inc. and lajobi inc. april 2008 in december 2008 the company divested its gift business operations to the russ companies inc. trc 3 previously the encore group . the company retained the russ and applause brands and licensed them to trc . by april 2011 the russ companies filed for chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy and no longer exists as an entity . to support the company s focus on growing a leadership position in the infant and juvenile industry on september 23 2009 russ berrie received shareholder approval to change its corporate name to kid brands inc. 4 along with the new name the company s common stock began trading under the symbol nyse kid . 5 shining stars edit the shining stars program was introduced in partnership with the international star registry . russ berrie s shining star friends product line was introduced to market the program . a message on the shining stars website states that russ berrie inc. the licensor of the shining stars brand filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on 26th april 2011 and therefore we apologize that the shining stars website associated with the russ berrie shining star products is no longer maintained . 6 while its first generation plush video games dvds t shirts and similar merchandise were sold . there was also a vip group that the people that signed up earned these merchandice . the promise of a second generation of shining star toys in 2012 had failed to materialise by the beginning of 2013 with no further updates having been made as of january 2016 . philanthropy edit the russ institute for professional sales at william paterson university is named after russ berrie . citation needed in 1993 russ berrie made a gift of 1 million to build a new performing arts center and learning facility at ramapo college in mahwah new jersey called the angelica and russ berrie center for performing arts . the russ berrie foundation has supported an effort with the jewish national fund and the israeli government to encourage settlement in the northern areas of israel . 7 references edit russell berrie 69 founder of a toy and gift company new york times russ table & home russ berrie and company divests its gift business to focus on growth of its infant & juvenile business russ berrie and company inc. shareholders approve kid brands inc. as new corporate name russ berrie and company inc. s shareholders approve kid brands inc. as new corporate name shining stars . russ berrie inc. retrieved 31 october 2011 . http www.nbn.org.il about special programs gonorth program.html external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kid brands & oldid 739145666 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies based in bergen county new jerseycompanies established in 1963toy companies of the united stateshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 13 september 2016 at 01 21 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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