Harold von Braunhut

His grandfather, Tobias Cohn, was head of the T. Cohn Superior Toy Company, which he founded in 1900, until 1968, when he filed for bankruptcy and the company was purchased by Brumberger Inc. He grew up in New York City and resided there until the 1980s, when he moved to Maryland.

According to a report in The Washington Post, he was raised "as Harold Nathan Braunhut, a Jew", and had a religious upringing — notable in light of his later association with white supremacist groups.

Harold Nathan Braunhut (March 31, 1926 – November 28, 2003), also known as Harold von Braunhut, was an American mail-order marketer and inventor most famous as the creator and seller of both the Amazing Sea-Monkeys and the X-ray specs, along with many other novelty products marketed towards children, often advertised in comic books.

Von Braunhut also gained notoriety for his racial and political views.

Despite his Jewish upbringing, he closely associated with white supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations organization.

Braunhut was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 31, 1926, to Jeanette (née Cohen), whose family was in the toy business, and Edward Braunhut, owner of a printing shop.

He added "von" to his name some time in the 1950s for a more Germanic sound and so he could distance himself from his Jewish family.

Braunhut used comic book advertisements to sell an assortment of products, many of which were misleadingly advertised.

He held 195 patents for various products, many of which have become cultural icons, including:

Braunhut also raced motorcycles under the name "The Green Hornet", and managed a showman (Henry Lamore or Henri LaMothe) whose act consisted of diving 40 ft into a children's wading pool filled with only 1 ft of water, and the mentalist The great Dunninger.

Braunhut also set up a wildlife conservation area in Maryland.

The Washington Post stated in a report that, despite his Jewish ethnicity, he had a close association with white supremacist groups, buying firearms for a Ku Klux Klan faction and regularly attending the Aryan Nations annual conference.

“Hendrik von Braun" operated an organization calling itself the "National Anti-Zionist Institute" from the same Bryans Road, Maryland address that von Braunhut used to sell Sea Monkey merchandise. In 1988, he was listed among a group of "outstanding Aryan nationalist leaders" at an Aryan Nations congress.

In a 1988 interview with The Seattle Times, he referred to the "inscrutable, slanty Korean eyes" of Korean shop owners and was quoted as saying, "You know what side I'm on. I don't make any bones about it."

Von Braunhut first married Charlotte Braunhut.

His second marriage was to actress Yolanda Signorelli, who took an active role in marketing Sea-Monkeys.

They had a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Jeanette LaMothe.

Harold von Braunhut died on November 28, 2003, at his home in Indian Head, Maryland, following an accidental fall.