Story dated June 17, 2005

Sunday 12th June saw the 60th birthday of Stern Pinball Inc President Gary Stern.

And sure enough, his factory team helped him celebrate with a round of "Happy Birthday" and (in recognition of the high percentage of Spanish speakers employed there) "Feliz Cumpleanos".

He started by practicing law in Chicago before joining his father to run Williams Pinball in 1973. In 1976 they left and formed Stern Electronics out of the remains of Chicago Coin.

Gary has been in charge of the current company since it's inception in 1986 as Data East Pinball (with joint founders Joe Kaminkow and Shelley Sax), through its ownership by Sega, finally gaining full control when it became Stern Pinball in 1999.

Since then, the company has produced fifteen models starting with Striker Xtreme and the most recent being The Sopranos. The sixteenth, Nascar is due to start production at the end of July.

Pinball News offers Gary our congratulations on his 60th birthday and wishes him the best for the future.