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It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of longtime friend and licensing industry pioneer Elliot Steinberg, 82, who passed away peacefully in Marin County, California. A successful entrepreneur and world traveler, Elliot started numerous businesses in the product and licensing space.
In San Francisco in the late 1960s, Elliot worked for an advertising agency where he led the campaign for Hills Brothers Coffee and created an innovative advertising campaign featuring Snoopy and the Red Baron. This led Elliot to form Aviva Enterprises in 1968, a company synonymous with licensed gift products featuring Snoopy, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Strawberry Shortcake, Garfield, My Little Pony, GI Joe and many other licensed entertainment brands. Aviva Enterprises created whole new licensed product categories including gifts, jewelry and luggage and created the iconic Snoopy trophies. He also created a subsidiary brand, Adam Joseph Industries, which produced licensed gifts for the blockbuster film, Return of the Jedi.
Aviva Enterprises was globally successful for nearly two decades, was a recognized pioneer in the nascent licensing industry and was eventually sold to Hasbro. Elliot remained active in the licensing industry working with sports teams, hotel licensed products and even dabbled in the creation of his own characters.
Elliot would later become a partner at Act III Licensing, a division of American icon Norman Lear’s company representing such properties as The Princess Bride, Sunkist, Ray Charles, and the Concord Music Group.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he moved to San Francisco with his family at age nine.
Elliot graduated with a degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley in 1963, where he was deeply honored to serve as the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Californian newspaper. Elliot was also a member of The Order of the Golden Bear honor society. Elliot loved the Cal Golden Bears and was often seen wearing Cal-themed clothing and attending football games with his treasured Sigma Alpha Mu (SAM) lifelong fraternity brothers and close friends.
Elliot was for many years a member of YPO (NorCal and Golden Gate Chapters), the Marin Tennis Club and Concordia-Argonaut Club, and was active in the Democrat Party. Elliot served on the Boards of the San Francisco Jewish Federation, the AJC, and The J. (formerly known as The Jewish Bulletin), where he served as the President of the Board of Directors. He was also President of the Board of The Hebrew Academy in San Francisco and was a Founding Board member of Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Francisco.
More recently, Elliot enjoyed spending time with family and friends both in-person and virtually. He enjoyed watching his favorite classic movies as well as reading numerous books on his Kindle and was an avid Scrabble player.
Elliot is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Steinberg; daughter, Aviva Rosenthal, son-in-law, Dan Rosenthal, grandchildren Sadie Rosenthal (20), and Stella Rosenthal (11) of Chevy Chase, Maryland; and son, Adam Steinberg, daughter-in-law, Maggie Bao Steinberg, and granddaughter, Dorothy Anne Steinberg (3), of Foster City, California.
With his love of and love from his family and friends, even up to his passing, Elliot would always say he felt “so blessed.” His life and legacy will no doubt be a continued blessing to many.
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