Godtfred Kirk Christiansen; Led Expansion of Lego Toy Company

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, 75, who built his father’s Lego company into an international toy empire. Christiansen took over the company in 1957 after the death of his father, Ole Kirk, who created the wooden toy blocks known as Lego--a contraction of the Danish words leg godt , which translate as “play well.” He converted the wooden interlocking blocks to colorful plastic and marketed the toy line around the world. In 1968, Christiansen established the Legoland amusement park in Billund, one of the largest tourist attractions in Denmark. The company plans to build similar parks in Europe and the United States, full of roller coasters and merry-go-rounds resembling Lego toys. Lego is the world’s fifth-largest toy company, valued at $5.407 billion. In Billund on Thursday after a series of illnesses.