Roy Edward Disney, 79, nephew of Walt Disney lost his battle with cancer, the Los Angles Times reported. He was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded.
Perhaps best known for organizing the ousting of two top Disney executives, first, Ron Miller in 1984, and then Michael Eisner in 2005, at the time of death he was a shareholder (over 16 million shares or about 1%), and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors.
Roy first began working for the Walt Disney Company as an assistant director of Walt Disney and produced “True-Life Adventure” films in 1954. He continued to work as a writer, director and producer until 1967 when he was elected to the Board of Directors of the company. Roy resigned as an executive from the Disney company in 1977 due to disagreements with corporate decisions at that time. As he claimed later, “I just felt creatively the company was not going anywhere interesting. It was very stifling.”
But he retained a seat on the board of directors. His resignation from the board in 1984, which occurred in the midst of a corporate takeover battle, was the beginning of a series of developments that led to the replacement of company president and CEO Ronald William Miller (married to Walt’s daughter Diane Marie Disney) by Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Roy soon returned to the company as vice-chairman of the board of directors and head of the animation department.
After a struggle with CEO Michael Eisner, Roy Disney’s influence began to wane as more executives friendly to Eisner were appointed to high posts. When the board of directors rejected Disney’s request for an extension of his term as board member, he announced his resignation on November 30, 2003, citing “serious differences of opinion about the direction and style of management” in the company. He issued a letter criticizing Eisner for mismanaging the company, neglecting the studio’s animation division, failures with ABC, timidity in the theme park business, instilling a corporate mentality in the executive structure, turning the Walt Disney Company into a “rapacious, soul-less” company, and of refusing to establish a clear succession plan.
He was the last member of the Disney family to be actively involved in the company. Roy Disney is the father of four children.
