Edward Wyman Spalding, whose family founded Spalding Sporting Goods, died this month in Southern California at the age of 86.
Spalding's family said in a statement late Friday he passed away in his sleep at a Ventura County hospital Dec. 3.
Spalding was the grandson of J. Walter Spalding, one of the founders of A.G. Spalding & Bros., which became a venerable name in the sporting goods industry by producing inflatable balls of all types, until the company was sold to the Russell Corp last year for $65 million.
Spalding was a lifelong actor and acting teacher who founded the Theatre for Children in Hollywood and was friends with Charlie Chaplin, Gregory Peck, Joan Crawford and other leading stars of Hollywood's golden age.
His daughter, Wilda, said her father, who served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II, was also an avid collector of military artifacts.
Spalding is survived by his third wife, Elizabeth Taylor Spalding, and his three children.
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