Easy-Bake Oven inventor dies

Easy-Bake Oven inventor
Ronal Howes dies at age 83

By BARRY M. HORSTMAN • The Cincinnati
Enquirer • February 19, 2010

Millions of young girls baked their first cookies,
cupcakes and brownies because of Ronald Howes
Sr.

A lifelong inventor whose creations ranged from
high-tech defense weaponry devices to electrostatic
printers, Howes built an impressive resume that will
always be best known for the enormously popular
toy that he fathered a half century ago: the Easy-
Bake Oven.

Howes, who lived in Anderson Township near
Cincinnati, died Tuesday. He was 83.

As director of research and new product
development for Cincinnati-based Kenner Toys in
the early 1960s, Howes created what would become
a household name and one of America's most iconic
toys by drawing inspiration from a Kenner salesman
who had just made a trip to New York City.

Upon returning, the salesman wondered aloud
whether Kenner could develop a toy version of the
chestnut roasters seen on many New York City street
corners.

With that remark, the proverbial light bulb clicked
on over Howes' head.

“He started thinking about that and wondering how
to create a safe version of that for kids,” recalled
Nancy Howes, his wife of 47 years.

Much of his experimentation was conducted in the
Howeses' own kitchen before he finally settled on
the concept that made the idea both safe and
practical by deciding to use a light bulb to heat the
oven.

And the rest is toy industry history.

“Whenever someone brings up the subject, a woman
always chimes in and says, ‘Oh, I had one of those,
“’ his wife said. “Everybody's heard of the Easy-Bake
Oven.”

After his mother died when he was born, Howes was
raised by a German grandmother and her American
husband in Over-the-Rhine, a Cincinnati suburb,
where the family ran several corner grocery stores
during the Depression.

He taught himself to read before kindergarten,
displaying an insatiable curiosity and sharp
intelligence that would shape his life.

He left Walnut Hills High School to join the Navy in
World War II, with his grandfather helping him to
“fib about his age” on the enlistment papers, Nancy
Howes said.

After two years in the South Pacific, Mr. Howes
returned to Cincinnati and received a degree at the
University of Cincinnati, where he had started
earning credits at night while still in high school.


At Kenner, Howes not only created the toy oven with
which he will always be inextricably linked, but also
met his future wife, who worked as a secretary in his
department.

Over the years, his constant tinkering with possible
new products was never confined to office hours.

“We no longer have a garage in our house - it's a
physics lab,” his wife said. “You can hardly walk
around in it.”