Today marks a very sad day: Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, passed away at the age of 79 after fighting a year-long battle with stomach cancer.
Roy made headlines in 2003 when he and Stanley Gold stepped down from Disney’s board of directors and launched SaveDisney.com. SaveDisney.com was a wonderful web site filled with many well written articles, including several on Song of the South. Through his efforts and the voices of many unhappy shareholders, CEO Michael Eisner was effectively ousted in 2005. Roy later returned to Disney as “Director Emeritus”.
Some long-time readers may also remember my February 14, 2004 article in which Roy Disney expressed to me his support for the release of Song of the South. “Song of the South … happens to be one of my favorite of the old Disney films…. [Releasing] it would be one of my first acts if I were to come back to the company!” Sadly, he never got to see this come to fruition. Roy, you will be greatly missed by all.