Roy E Disney, who died aged 79 on 16 December, 2009, was the nephew of Walt Disney and a long time senior executive at his uncle’s company.

The last of the Disney family to be actively involved in the running of the firm, Roy E Disney was credited with keeping Walt’s creative vision alive, though he had to fight hard to do so.

He twice had to campaign to oust a company CEO (Ronald William Miller in 1984 and Michael Eisner 2005), but the first ‘Disney War’ helped bring about the Disney animated feature ‘renaissance’ in the 1990s with acclaimed films like Beauty and the Beast (1991) and the Lion King (1994).

His father was Roy O Disney, co-founder of the company in 1929. Roy Edward graduated from college in 1951 and joined the family firm as a director and producer on the Academy Award-winning documentary series True-Life Adventures.

He was elected to the board in 1967 and remained until his resignation in 1984, but after forcing Miller to step down, he took on the joint roles of vice-chairman and head of the animation department. He then set about reviving the company’s tradition of making ground-breaking animated feature films.

His greatest legacy was perhaps Fantasia 2000, a sequel to the 1940 animated interpretation of classical pieces Fantasia, finally released at the turn of the century after nine years development. The film didn’t fare well at the box office, but was received warmly by critics as another blow for the Disney heritage .

Roy E Disney died of stomach cancer, 43 years and one day after Walt Disney.