Jim’s voice, as a lead voice-over talent for LeapFrog, greeted users of tens of millions of LeapPads. Jim’s inventions and content have impacted more than 100 million children and adults in reading, math, and language skills, and have sparked and fueled a passion for lifelong learning for people around the globe.

He was replaced by Christiane Crawford and Julie Stevens respectively as the narrators for the My First LeapPad books, however he continued to give users directions and lead games for the original LeapPad learning system as late as 2002. Later in 2002, he was replaced by Michael Mendelsohn for the Phonics Program (narrator) and the Plus Writing Books: Tad’s Great Day at the Letter Factory, Reading & Writing and The Smart Guides to Kindergarten and First Grade (also narrator), and later Mark Atherlay for the Leapster. Jim also voiced Mr. Pencil.

Marggraff was named Father of the Year in 2004 by the National Father’s Day Council and delights in inventing and launching ventures with his wife (Mary Jo Marggraff) and children, Blake Marggraff, who played the original voice of Tad, and Annie Marggraff, Blake’s younger sister.

He also created the Fly Fusion Pen in 2007, and in 2011, he formed Livescribe.

Marggraff holds more than 36 patents and applications and was Ernst & Young Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and is listed among The Boston Globe’s MIT150 inventors.

Most recently, Jim was the president and CEO of Eyefluence, which was acquired by Google in 2016.

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