LOS ANGELES — While gazing at the industrious insects in 1956, novelty-toy entrepreneur Milton Levine was transported back to childhood and his uncle’s farm, where he collected ants in jars and watched them “cavort,” Levine told the Los Angeles Times in 2002.

With his brother-in-law, Levine soon devised what was eventually named Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm, which was an instant hit in the fad-crazy 1950s.

Levine died of natural causes Jan. 16 at a Thousand Oaks, Calif., assisted-care facility, said his son, Steven. He was 97.