Horst Brandstätter

Horst Brandstätter (June 27, 1933 – June 3, 2015) was the owner of the German company Brandstätter Group. The company was founded by Andreas Brandstätter in 1876. At the age of 19, Horst Brandstätter followed in his father's footsteps by joining the family business and successfully modernised it. One of his major successes was the production of hula hoops in 1958. In the early 1970s he commissioned inventor and employee Hans Beck to produce a toy system that would eventually become known as Playmobil. Brandstätter retired from the company in 2000, but regularly visited the company offices until his death in 2015.