handler was born to a jewish family in chicago, illinois, on april 9, 1916, and grew up in denver, colorado. he studied industrial design at the art center college of design in pasadena, california. in 1929, he met his future wife ruth mosko at a b'nai b'rith dance for teenagers. they later married and had two children: a daughter, barbara, who was the namesake of barbie dolls; and a son, kenneth (who died of a brain tumor in 1994) who was the namesake of ken dolls. while a struggling art student and designer of light fixtures, handler partnered with harold matson to design a realistic-looking miniature piano that received roughly 300,000 orders; however, they mispriced the product and lost a dime on each one produced.