Roy E. Disney dies at 79

Given his age, it's not necessarily shocking, but still an incredible loss. I didn't even know he was sick.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121523074

Roy E. Disney, the son and nephew of The Walt Disney Co. founders who twice led shareholder revolts that shook up the family business, died Wednesday. He was 79.

The Walt Disney Co. announced that Disney died in Newport Beach, Calif., after a bout with stomach cancer.

Although he generally stayed out of the spotlight, Roy Disney didn't hesitate to lead a successful campaign in 1984 to oust Walt Disney's son-in-law after concluding he was leading the company in the wrong direction.

Nearly 20 years later, he launched another successful shareholders revolt, this time against Michael Eisner, the man he'd helped bring in after the previous ouster.

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Even though he was sick, that's still pretty tragic.

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RIP Mr. Disney.

This is devastating news to me. A wonderful man who will be missed immensely. He did so much for the Disney company and his work will be enjoyed by countless people until the end of time. It's quite a legacy to leave behind.

And he also took a leading role in the campaign to oust Eisner a couple years back, which is part of the reason why Disney has a 2-D animation department again today after initially saying they would only be involved in CGI animation.

...which strummer girl already pointed out. Oops. That's what I get for not reading everything. Oh well, I think it's important enough to be repeated. Without that, we could have had "Sleeping Beauty 2" released direct to DVD today.

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Updated On: 12/17/09 at 10:36 AM