Roy Disney Dead at 79

[Strmchsr]

From the Orlando TV stations:


Report: Roy Disney, Nephew Of Walt Disney, Dies
Disney Died Wednesday After Bout With Cancer

Posted: 2:30 pm EST December 16, 2009Updated: 2:43 pm EST December 16, 2009

Comment On This Story ››
LOS ANGELES -- A newspaper says Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney who became a powerful behind-the-scenes influence on the family business, has died. He was 79.

Clifford A. Miller, a spokesman for Roy Disney's company Shamrock Holdings, told the Los Angeles Times that Disney died Wednesday after a bout with cancer.

His father, Roy O. Disney, and uncle, Walt, founded The Walt Disney Co. in the 1920s. Walt was the company's creative genius but Roy Disney's father played a vital role as head of its financial side.

The younger Disney, born in 1930, worked for the company as a writer and producer. But his most important influence was as a Disney shareholder who led two investor revolts.

In 1984 he led a successful campaign to oust Walt Disney's son-in-law from the company. Nearly 20 years later, he launched another successful shareholder revolt against Michael Eisner.

[LoriSan]

latimes.com
Roy Edward Disney dies at 79; nephew of Walt helped revive animation
In the 1980s after establishing financial independence, he paved the way for a new management team that brought back to life the art form that defined Walt Disney Co.

By Dawn C. Chmielewski and James Bates

December 17, 2009
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Roy Edward Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney whose commitment to his uncle's creative spirit prompted him to mount revolts that led to the unseating of two of the company's chief executives and a revival of the studio's legendary animation unit, died Wednesday. He was 79.

Disney, who had been battling stomach cancer, died at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, according to Clifford A. Miller, a spokesman for Disney's company Shamrock Holdings.

Disney toiled for years in the shadow of his famous uncle and his father, Disney Studios co-founder Roy O. Disney, who ran the business side of the company for his brother. But the quiet scion would emerge as a forceful protector of Disney traditions when he believed that the company that bore the family name was headed in the wrong direction.

"People always underestimated Roy," Peter Schneider, the former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said recently. "You underestimate Roy at your peril, as many people have learned."

As chairman of Disney animation, Disney helped guide the studio to a new golden age of animation with an unprecedented string of artistic and box-office successes that included "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Lion King." He was executive producer of "Fantasia/2000," the sequel to the 1940 Disney classic, and the 2004 Oscar-nominated "Destino," based on a 1945 collaboration between Walt Disney and Spanish painter Salvador Dali.

"I really credit Roy Disney completely with the renaissance of Disney animation, beginning with 'Little Mermaid' and all the way through that great amazing series of classic Disney films," said John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

Nature filmmaker

Disney devoted the first 20 years of his career to working on nature films, including the Academy Award-winning True-Life Adventure features "The Living Desert" and "The Vanishing Prairie." His 1959 short subject "Mysteries of the Deep" received an Oscar nomination. After the death of Walt in 1966 and Roy's father in 1971, the younger Disney was spurned in his efforts to take a larger role with the company. He finally quit in 1977, but remained on its board as a director, where he was largely a figurehead.

Adrift, Disney hooked up with lawyer Stanley Gold and became a successful financier, investing in a variety of businesses that included broadcasting, soybeans and Israeli industrial concerns through Shamrock Holdings, a company named for one of Disney's racing sloops. He served as chairman of the company, which has approximately $2 billion under management.

During the 1980s, Gold, Disney and Shamrock became one of the better-known corporate raiders, making unsuccessful hostile takeover bids for companies such as Polaroid Corp. and the Wherehouse Entertainment chain of music stores. Its takeover of Central Soya, a soybean processor in Fort Wayne, Ind., would yield a sizable $170-million profit for Shamrock and its partners with its subsequent sale to an Italian agricultural concern. Through investments, Gold sought to free Disney of his financial dependence on the Disney company stock he inherited. Most were successful, although Shamrock stumbled on some, particularly a money-losing investment in sneaker maker L.A. Gear.

By 1984, Disney had grown increasingly frustrated with the Walt Disney Co., which he likened to a real estate company that happened to be in the movie business. The company had let its feature animation film business, once the cornerstone of the company, deteriorate. The company, Disney would later say, had lost its creative drive.

"I said to him, 'Roy, I think you've reached a point where you need to get all the way in or all the way out,' " Gold said. "He said, 'What does that mean?' I said, 'You either need to sell your shares in Disney and go independent, or you need to put up a fight and get rid of the managers and find real managers for this business.' "

With his financial independence established from his investments, Disney pondered with Gold and a handful of other advisors what, if anything, they could do. Finally, a decision was made to try to unseat the company's management, made awkward by the fact that Walt's son-in-law, Ron Miller, was chief executive. Disney abruptly quit the company board in 1984, sending a signal to investors and Wall Street that something was amiss. The turmoil Disney ignited eventually swept the old management group from the corporate suites.

In the end, Disney, with an alliance formed with the billionaire Bass family of Texas, returned to the board and forced out the studio management, paving the way for the hiring of a new team led by Michael Eisner, Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Upon taking over as chief executive, Eisner asked Disney what he wanted to do. Disney responded that he wanted to revive the company's sagging animation division, where morale was rock-bottom as the company was releasing one of its worst-reviewed films, "The Black Cauldron." Eisner granted Disney his wish.

Disney persuaded the new regime to invest about $10 million in a digital ink and paint system developed by Pixar, a seemingly minor decision that proved to be a turning point in the company's fortunes. It would lay the foundation of Disney's relationship with the firm that pioneered computer-generated animation. Within a few years, Disney turned out a remarkable string of animated hits. The films won critical acclaim and proved wildly lucrative as well, with money pouring into the company not only from the box office, but from the sales of T-shirts, toys and home videos.

"He was happy to sit in a room with a beer and a hot dog and talk about story ideas with us. He was that kind of guy," said longtime Disney animation producer Don Hahn, who directed the new documentary "Waking Sleeping Beauty." "He would walk through the halls, unannounced, and drop by and say hello. That kind of involvement was not only empowering but encouraging to us. . . . That gave us tremendous confidence, when we were making movies like 'The Black Cauldron,' that we could reinvent ourselves."

Disney's pet project, a new version of "Fantasia," was released in 2000, initially in big-screen IMAX form. Like the original, "Fantasia/2000" blended animation inspired largely by classical music. Included were segments set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and Ottorino Respighi's "Pines of Rome." Disney also included "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the cornerstone of Walt Disney's original, in the new version.

At the same time, relations between Disney and Eisner had grown increasingly strained, with the two men communicating mostly by phone and through e-mail. Tensions had been building since the 1994 death of the company's president and chief operating officer, Frank Wells, which left Eisner solely in control of the company. Disney complained to confidants that he was being marginalized by the man he had helped install as chief executive.

By November 2003, Disney learned that the board's four-member nominating committee was planning to leave his name off the slate of directors scheduled to be elected at the company's next annual meeting. The longtime animation chief discovered he had been shut out of a Thanksgiving week screening of ideas for new animated films. The company had been in a prolonged financial slump, with its earnings flat and its stock performance anemic, but the snub was the last straw. Disney and Gold, his business partner, abruptly quit the board of directors in December 2003 and called for Eisner's resignation.

In a stinging rebuke, Disney said that Eisner's leadership had led to the perception of the company as "rapacious, soul-less and always looking for the 'quick buck' rather than long-term value." Although the company's problems were well-known, Disney's public statement exposed the severity of his personal and professional rift with Eisner. A month later, Disney called on shareholders to cast a vote of no confidence in the top executive. Their efforts rallied a stunning 45% no-confidence vote for Eisner at the company's 2004 annual meeting in Philadelphia, prompting Disney directors to remove Eisner as board chairman. Five months later, Eisner said he would retire when his contract expired in September 2006.

[LoriSan]

Disney did not relish the fight. In an interview with Fortune magazine, he described how he had summoned his four children to a family meeting where they sat together, holding hands, and agreed he should challenge Eisner. "His identity is more wrapped up in this company than you can imagine," daughter Abigail E. Disney told the magazine in 2004.

Disney and Gold continued their fight with the Disney board with a May 2005 lawsuit that challenged as "a sham" the search process that resulted in the appointment of Eisner's hand-picked successor as the company's new chief executive, Robert A. Iger. The new chief executive quickly made peace with Disney, offered him an office at the company's Burbank studios, a consultancy and the title "director emeritus." Disney and Gold withdrew their lawsuit challenging Iger's selection.

Born Jan. 10, 1930, in Los Angeles, Disney was the only child of Roy O. and Edna Disney. Growing up around the studio, Disney was exposed to both the joys of the Walt Disney aura as well as its darker side. In a 1999 Times interview, Disney recalled how his uncle came to see him when he had the chicken pox as a boy, enthralling him with a story he wanted to make into a film about a wooden puppet named "Pinocchio."

"He scared me to death with the stuff about the whale and everything else," Disney recalled. "I remember it very, very sharply and very clearly. But when the movie came out, it was a big letdown for me. It was nowhere near as good as Walt's version."

Yet his uncle and father fought bitterly at times, and for a while weren't on speaking terms, communicating only through memos. In the 1999 interview, Disney recalled listening to the sounds of his father pulling into the driveway at night, trying to pick up on the subtle signs of whether it had been a good or a bad day with Walt. When the car door slammed, "you knew it was time to go do your homework," he recalled. Eventually, Walt wrote his brother a touching letter to make up. He also gave him a peace pipe, which Roy E. displayed in his office after his father died.

After graduating from Pomona College, Disney initially spurned working for the studio, taking a job as a film editor on the television police series "Dragnet." When he was laid off from that job, his father arranged a job at the company. In 1955, he married Patty Dailey, sister of boyhood friend Peter Dailey. The couple had two sons and two daughters. They divorced in 2007, after 52 years of marriage. He married the former Leslie DeMeuse in 2008.

Despite wealth estimated at $600 million, Disney remained shy and outwardly unpretentious, according to people who knew him. His main indulgences were a castle in Ireland, a jet, sports cars and financing a passion for sailboat racing. In 1999, Disney fulfilled a lifelong dream when he and the 12-member crew of his 74-foot sloop Pyewacket -- named for the witch's cat in the 1958 film "Bell, Book & Candle" -- won the 2,225-mile Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, setting a course record.

A heavy smoker of unfiltered Lucky Strikes for much of his life, Disney quit the habit in his mid-60s after his first wife, Patty, was ordered by doctors to quit. Over the years he gave relatively few interviews, and only later in life began to feel comfortable making the kind of public appearances required of him for the company.

As a vice chairman of the studio's board of directors, Disney would frequently appear at theme parks or help promote the company's animated films. With his oval face, sloping nose, protruding ears and mustache, Disney resembled his uncle to the point where people in public would frequently approach him to ask if he was Walt's brother.

Disney's shyness belied a toughness that could surface when needed. He frequently wrote pointed memos about such things as animation projects, never hesitating to spell out what parts of a film he didn't like. And he butted heads with former Disney Studios Chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, who Disney felt took too much credit for the studio's animated hits.

Philanthropist

Among his philanthropic activities, Disney served on the board of trustees of California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he helped carry out the dream of Walt and his father to build and sustain a top arts college in Southern California. He was a major donor for the construction of REDCAT, the college's experimental theater named for his parents that adjoins Disney Concert Hall. He also was chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the Peregrine Fund, which reflected his efforts to save the bird of prey that was the subject of his 1968 documentary, "Varda, the Peregrine Falcon."

In addition to his wife, Leslie, and daughter Abigail, Disney is survived by another daughter, Susan M. Disney Lord; his sons, Roy P. Disney and Timothy J. Disney; and 16 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private, followed by cremation. His ashes will be scattered at sea. Instead of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the California International Sailing Assn. to benefit youth sailing.

[email protected]

James Bates, who covered the Walt Disney Co. and wrote much of this obituary while a member of The Times staff, left the paper in 2007 and now works for Sitrick and Co., a public relations firm that represented Shamrock in its fight against the Disney board. He wrote the obituary several years before joining the firm.

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

[seanyred]

I just read the article. It was very good. Sorry to hear he passed away. Thoughts and Prayers go out to his family.

[GoinGoofyPlanninThisTrip]

That's too bad. It was always nice to have that family connection to Walt involved in the business.

[IDreamofEeyore]

sorry to hear the news

[meldan98]

Very sad! He will be missed. Strange that he died one day (and of course many years later) after Walt.

[LoriSan]

That should be Roy "E" Disney

[ccp1]

Pixie Dust for the entire Disney family. :(

[scottgr]

So Sad

[Ian]

Very sad ... Roy was really the last involved link from the Walt Disney days.

This is truly the end of that era.

[Nascfan]

A very sad day indeed. RIP Roy. :(

[WED1901]

Thoughts and prayers for the Disney's :(

[BigThunderFan]

This is definitely very sad as he was the last family member involved. Now the corporate buffoons can really take over. Not that they hadn't already.

[Bass T-bone]

Very sad! He will be missed. Strange that he died one day (and of course many years later) after Walt.

Indeed...

and at the holiday season too... how sad.

I remember when Walt died... We cut the picture clipping out of the news paper.

The caption read... "Their smiles are gone"

[Septbride2002]

Very sad ... Roy was really the last involved link from the Walt Disney days.

This is truly the end of that era.

As usual I agree with Ian - I was so sad to hear of his passing today. I think it is tragic that no one from the Disney family is really involved in what Walt and Roy created together with the passing of Roy E. Disney. It is just another corporation of suits. :(

~Amanda

[Diznee4Me]

Sad day. :(

[Crow]

its a shame. my father passed from cancer also.
It was good that he made a difference w the revolt.

[amd780]

As usual I agree with Ian - I was so sad to hear of his passing today. I think it is tragic that no one from the Disney family is really involved in what Walt and Roy created together with the passing of Roy E. Disney. It is just another corporation of suits. :(

~Amanda

My thoughts exactly!

Such sad news - prayers and pixie dust for the Disney family. :(

[brownie]

Very sad news.

[GBBT]

RIP Roy.:( Maybe Jobs and Lasseter can keep the magic flowing............

[Maleficent's Dad]

So sad...
He carried on the family legacy as best he could. :(

RIP Roy.

[brad192]

It's the end of an era. With Roy's passing, there isn't a direct link to the family anymore. "Disney" will quickly become just a word, a brand - not a name, vision, and dream.

RIP Roy.

[ibrowse17]

How sad!! I remember watching him on resort tv on our last trip. Our thoughts are with his family.

[Joannelet]

ugh. I just thought about him while walking down Main Street last week and pointing out his window to my hubby. I said to him, can you imagine how sad it will be when he dies? Lo and behold this day has come :(
how sad :(

[LibertyTreeGal]

I feel like much of the Disney legacy died today :(

I feel so sad. No one around to represent Walt and his brother Roy's dream anymore.

[coneygoil]

I just found out about Roy! I started crying and had to leave the room because my husband so would noy understand why I'm sad about Walt's nephew dying. He was like an extension of Walt, like Walt was still around in some sort of physical form. I'm sad :cry:

[divinedi]

Sad, sad news.

[MichaelMouse]

WOW, Roy Disney dies a day after Walt Disney, 43 years later. (Dec 15, 1966). another sad day for the Disney family and fans:
RIP, Roy:(:(:mickey::mickey:

Who is still living under the Disney name?? Anyone of them still involved in the Disney company?

[PeterPan]

Well, this is truly, truly sad news. I really admired this man - he had GUTS, that is for sure! If you have followed the Disney Company Saga for as long as I have, you would see what a vital role he has played. And - his UNCLE was WALT, for crying out loud! He remembers Walt telling him the story of Pinnochio when he was very young - right when Walt was struggling with the story line, and loved to tell the story over and over to anyone who would hear.

He was a tough player, and way, way smarter than many realized. I really hate to see Disney's die.

[Ian]

Who is still living under the Disney name?? Anyone of them still involved in the Disney company?Really the only one left that's even remotely involved with keeping Walt's legacy alive is Diane Disney Miller (Walt's daughter).

The rest of the Walt-era Disney's have all passed away (Walt's adopted daughter Sharon died back in 1993 of cancer) and none of the next generation is at all involved with the company.

[Jim&AngieMarriner]

We want to add our condolences to his family. He will be dearly missed by everyone whose lives he touched.

Now let me say this because I am 100% certain Disney exec read fan sites to keep a pulse on what the community thinks. Guys you have read it a few times already in this thread, PLEASE dont let the Corp be just a buisiness to you. Allow yourself to pretend that your last name is Disney and that it is YOUR family name on the front gate. The company is built on just that kind of imagination, allowing yourself to become someone else or go someplace else in your dreams at least. Please become that Disney family member when you put your suit on and go to work. Dont always ask what would bring in more money, but ask more often " would Walt have approved of this?" and "Will this bring smiles to our guests?" Please dont be just a brand, stay a family.

[Joannelet]

We want to add our condolences to his family. He will be dearly missed by everyone whose lives he touched.

Now let me say this because I am 100% certain Disney exec read fan sites to keep a pulse on what the community thinks. Guys you have read it a few times already in this thread, PLEASE dont let the Corp be just a buisiness to you. Allow yourself to pretend that your last name is Disney and that it is YOUR family name on the front gate. The company is built on just that kind of imagination, allowing yourself to become someone else or go someplace else in your dreams at least. Please become that Disney family member when you put your suit on and go to work. Dont always ask what would bring in more money, but ask more often " would Walt have approved of this?" and "Will this bring smiles to our guests?" Please dont be just a brand, stay a family.


very well said!!! I hope they do read this!!!!
I want to say DITTO about this statement! Please do not lose sight that it all started with a MAN AND HIS DREAM!!!! Continue following HIS dreams, not yours and keep children smiling all over the world!!! You have BIG shoes to fill...DO NOT LET WALT'S FAMILY OR ROY'S family down :( (OR US!)

[JPL]

Truly a sad day for Disney Fans around the world. Roy saved the company 2 different times when he felt it strayed too far. Who will be on that watch now?


Thanks Roy for everything you did for the company and the fans. You will be truly missed :(

[Stu29573]

A very sad day. I always admired the way he stuck up for what he believed in. Hopefully a new champion will emerge...

[Septbride2002]

Really the only one left that's even remotely involved with keeping Walt's legacy alive is Diane Disney Miller (Walt's daughter).

The rest of the Walt-era Disney's have all passed away (Walt's adopted daughter Sharon died back in 1993 of cancer) and none of the next generation is at all involved with the company.

Isn't that just sad? If my grandfather had created something 1/4th of magical, cool, and not to mention profitable as Disney there would be no way that I would NOT be involved with it in some way. It is a real shame that they don't want to be a part of their own family history.

~Amanda

[Iluvpooh]

I just found out about Roy! I started crying and had to leave the room because my husband so would noy understand why I'm sad about Walt's nephew dying. He was like an extension of Walt, like Walt was still around in some sort of physical form. I'm sad :cry:
I heard this on the radio in my car yesterday and almost had to p[ull over because I was crying.
Prayers for the entire Disney family. Looks like they are having a bad week with all that other mess going on with Diane's son too.

[pdrlkr]

Very sad day indeed. :( I wonder if the Disney company will do anything in his memory.

[KylesMom]

I was just reading some of my "Save Disney" e-mails from 2004 and happened upon this one from Roy. Truly a man who was willing to put everything he had on the line to ensure that the Disney legacy was carried on the way it should have been.


A Personal Note From Roy Disney
To all our friends at SaveDisney.com,
I want to let all of you know how very grateful I am to you for all your support leading up to the Walt Disney Company's Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Philadelphia.
The vote . . . was unprecedented in the annals of American corporate history, and we - all of you, and Stanley Gold and I - should be very proud of the message we've sent to Disney's management and Board of Directors.
Clearly, though, these people aren't yet listening to us as carefully as they should. Their arrogance is almost unbelievable.
The Board's cosmetic act of, in effect, changing nothing except the titles of Eisner and Mitchell, is nothing short of astonishing and is totally unacceptable to us, and, we believe, to you, to the investment community and to the public in general. This Board just doesn't get it!
Eisner is rejected by over 50% of the shares actually voted. Mitchell by nearly 30% of shares actually voted, and what do they do? They pat themselves on the back, keep Eisner in his job - with all his perks untouched - and promote Mitchell to Chairman. We find this outrageous and unacceptable, and we will continue to fight it UNTIL THINGS CHANGE AT DISNEY - and we truly mean change.
So stay with us here at savedisney.com. We'll keep you informed and make sure you know how you can help again when the time is right.
Thanks for helping us bring back the Magic!!!
Mr. Roy Disney will be missed.

[Boost]

This is very sad news. From our family to Mr. Disney's family, our condolences.

I also hope that his passing does not make the company take a negative turn away from Walt's vision.

[andreallybadeggs]

To Mr. Disney's family and friends,
For those of us who love all things Disney this is such sad news and we grieve with you. Disney magic touches our lives, brings us moments of wonder, and draws us closer together. I've read so many funny, sweet, and poignant memories on this site and shared some of my own; what a gift your family has given to the world! For millions of fans, Disney has been and will continue to be synonymous with love, laughter, and life. May that thought and our prayers bring you comfort.
Thanks, Roy. :mickey:

[mickclub1955]

Walt Disney Dec 15, 1966
Roy O. Disney Dec 20, 1971
Roy E. Disney Dec 16, 2009


December seems to be a bad month for the Disney's.

[master_gracey]

I think we can all agree that Roy deserves a window on Main Street.

Thanks for sticking up for what you believed in Roy. And thank you for being involved with the family company for as long as you were.

[Bass T-bone]

I think we can all agree that Roy deserves a window on Main Street.

Doesn't he have a window? I think that he does in Disneyland at the very least. Can anybody confirm this?

[EPCOT84]

:pine::angel::cry:
Walt Disney Dec 15, 1966
Roy O. Disney Dec 20, 1971
Roy E. Disney Dec 16, 2009


December seems to be a bad month for the Disney's.

Rest in Peace Disney Legacy
:pine::angel::cry:

[DizneyFreak2002]

RIP Roy Disney....

[3Cabsfan]

To say Roy will be missed is an understatement. He was a class act and always had the very best in mind for the company. He was approachable and cared about the Disney name!

[Melanie]

Noticed all the Disney flags were flying at half-mast yesterday at the Magic Kingdom. :(

[RalsFam]

RIP Sir

[Nascfan]

I think we can all agree that Roy deserves a window on Main Street.



He has one. I know we're not supposed to post outside links here, but a quick Google search turned up a replica you can by from Disney Shopping.

[DisneyCrazy]

Walt Disney Dec 15, 1966
Roy O. Disney Dec 20, 1971
Roy E. Disney Dec 16, 2009

Lillian Disney (Walt's wife) died on December 16, 1997