Family

Ty Warner was born September 3, 1944, in Chicago Illinois. His father, Harold , was a jeweler and toy salesman. His mother, Gorgia, was a pianist. He also had a sister named Joy. In 1948, Ty and his family moved into the suburbs to a place called La Garange, Illinois. La Garange was about 1/2 a mile west from Chicago.

School

From kindergarden until he was 13, he attended Cossit School. After that he attended Lyons School for only 3 terms. Then, he moved to a private boarding school St. John's Military Academy in Dalafield, Wisconsin. At St. John's, he played about 3 different sports. In college, he decided he should go to Hollywood and become an actor.

Job

It turned out, all he did in Hollywood was pump gas and sell cameras door to door. When he decided Hollywood wouldn't work, he moved back to Chicago and sold plush animals for a company in San Frincisco. This is where his future began to take shape. He asked himself, "How do you get people to buy something?" He answered himself thinking if people saw an uncomfortable looking man, they'd want to see what he was selling out of curiosity even if they didn't like toys. His plan worked!

Ty Inc.

After a while, he decided to make his own company. It started by selling stuffed cats. By 1992, Ty's sales catalog had grown to several dozen animals, but Ty still hadn't done what he was hoping ... a small animal plush that would appeal to children. He wanted it cheap enough so that children could purchase it with their allowance money and fit them into their pockets. This lead helped him to producing Beanie Babies.

Beanie Babies

In 1993, the first Beanie Baby was born! Soon there were the original 9. Hundreds more followed. Beanie Babies were soon one of the greatest fads in history! Now Ty is a success! The sole purpose of Beanie Babies was getting money to give to charities. He donates large sums of money to well-known charities.