# Happy Face Guy Passes Away

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 13, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875 "2001-04-13T20:04:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875/1 "2001-04-13T20:04:22Z")

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He’s shown up in a Cecil answer or two. Harvey Ball designed the “Happy Face” in 1963 to boost employee morale after the merger of two insurance companies. He was paid $45 for the design.  
He never applied for a trademark or copyright on the thing. So he never saw a penny of profits when those happy faces appeared everywhere on everything.  
Anyway, he passed on last night in Massachusetts at the age of 79.

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**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875/2 "2001-04-13T20:25:33Z")

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according to his [son](http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/13/us.obit.ball.ap/index.html) “I can only eat one steak and drive one car at a time”

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**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875/3 "2001-04-13T20:48:36Z")

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An earlier thread - [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=67322](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=67322)  
And Cecil’s article - [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_031.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_031.html)

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**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875/4 "2001-04-13T21:35:25Z")

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I’m hopin’ the image I have of his tombstone won’t really come to pass. For all eternity.

:::shudder:::

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**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-face-guy-passes-away/61875/5 "2001-04-13T22:48:10Z")

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☹