If you have loved Disney movies like “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” and “The Lion King,” you have one person to thank for that: Roy Edward Disney, nephew of Walt Disney. A long-time champion of the traditional values that informed early Disney classics like “Sleeping Beauty” and “Snow White”, Roy quietly made nature films like the Oscar-nominated “Mysteries of the Deep,” while his father Roy O. Disney handled the business aspect of the Disney empire.
After leaving the board of directors in 1984 and experiencing a series of changes of fortune, Roy returned to Disney and was instrumental in installing Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, and Jeffrey Katzenberg into executive positions, paving the way for the new computer-based animation methodology that led to the studio’s triumphant return to moviemaking prominence.
Roy E. Disney died today at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach of stomach cancer, which he had been fighting for some time. He is survived by his two daughters, two sons, and sixteen grandchildren.
It’s clear that Roy’s strong sense of ethics and values were the motivating factor in his decision to challenge the top executives at Disney, and the results speak for themselves — “The Princess and the Frog” is a direct descendant of the classic films that made the studio a household name. Though his path may have been rocky, and his fortunes at times tumultuous, Roy was a living example of how important dedication to one’s ideals can be.
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