9 Jan 1916 – 28 Nov 2005
Great-Grandson of Philip Cardon and Martha Marie Tourn
Grandson of Jean Paul Cardon and Magdalene Beus
Son of Violet Phyllis Cardon and Esmond Leveir Walker
Card Walker, 89; Disney Chief From 1971 to 1983 Oversaw Building of Epcot Center
By Valerie J. Nelson
Times Staff Writer
December 1, 2005
Card Walker, a mailroom employee who rose to become the first chief executive at the Walt Disney Co. who wasn’t a member of the Disney family, leading the company from 1971 to 1983, has died. He was 89.
Walker, who oversaw the development of Walt Disney World, died of congestive heart failure Monday at his home in La Cañada Flintridge, the company announced.
During his tenure, Walker brokered the deal for the company’s first international theme park: Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983. He also oversaw the development of Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Florida and helped found the Disney Channel, the cable TV network launched in 1983.
“Card was instrumental in keeping Disney strong and growing in the critical years that followed the passing of founders Walt and Roy Disney,” Robert Iger, president and CEO of the company, said in a statement. Walt and Roy Disney, who were brothers, founded the Disney company.
Michael Eisner, the former chief executive officer who ran Disney from 1984 until earlier this year, praised Walker for steering the company through “a challenging time of transition.”
Walker ran the company after Roy Disney, father of Roy E. Disney, who left the company’s board in 2003, died in 1971. Walt Disney had died five years before.
“Thanks to his deep understanding of the company and its founders, talking to Card was the next best thing to talking to Walt himself,” Eisner said in a statement.
Some critics have argued that Walker’s strong ties to Walt Disney interfered with the way he ran the company.
A 1984 Time magazine story said Walker “made decisions according to what Walt would have done,” which made Disney steadily lose “touch with modern taste.”
While filmmakers raised on Disney movies were making “Jaws” (1975) and “Star Wars” (1977), Disney was making “Herbie Goes Bananas” (1980), said Jim Hill, who has tracked Disney history for 25 years.
“Card wasn’t the great creative, but he was a great steward,” Hill said. “A lot of stuff he did very well — and he had an awfully hard act to follow as the first non-Disney to run the company.”
Known as a stern taskmaster, the straight-laced Walker was “beloved by his employees,” Hill said.
Sandy Quinn, whom Walker hired in 1968 to head the marketing department at the yet-to-be-built Disney World, considered Walker his mentor.
“Everybody who worked with him knew him as a man of goodness, of spirit, of incredible patriotism,” Quinn said. “He inherited all of the qualities Walt as his mentor instilled in him.”
Esmond Cardon Walker was born Jan. 9, 1916, in Rexburg, Idaho, to Esmond and Violet. When he was 8, he moved to California and graduated from UCLA in 1938.
He went straight to Disney as a “traffic boy” who ran drawings back and forth among departments. He also worked in the camera and story departments before moving into advertising, sales and marketing.
His encyclopedic knowledge of the business made him invaluable to Walt, with whom Walker was said to be on cordial personal terms.
When Roy Disney decided to name Walker president, he said he chose him because he was a strong leader.
In 1976, Walker also became the chief executive officer and in 1980 he was elected chairman of the board.
Walker was an early riser who was often at his desk by 5:30 a.m. By the time the rest of the Disney executives showed up, he “knew the movie grosses in Brazil, the Winnie the Pooh book sales in France and the hotel occupancy at Walt Disney World — and this was all before computers,” Quinn said.
What may have been Walker’s biggest accomplishment was realizing Walt Disney’s great, last dream: Epcot.
“Everyone accused Walt of being an idiot when he built Disney World,” Walker told Forbes in 1981. “I know pumping $800 million into Epcot is a big gamble with the current fuel crisis and poor economy, but we believe it’s going to pay off really big.”
Asked in 1982 why the company kept the inelegant acronym “Epcot” — for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow — Walker responded, “We used it because it was inspired by Walt. People will learn to master it.”
Walker is survived by Winnie, his wife of 59 years; two daughters, Mignonne Walker Decker and Marnie Gaede; a son, Cardon Walker; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services will be private. Memorial donations may be made to the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation, 22212 Ventura Blvd., Suite 300, Woodland Hills, CA 91364.
Correction by the The Walt Disney Company
November 30, 2005 0710 PM Eastern Standard Time
The corrected release reads:
“Thanks to his deep understanding of the company and its founders, talking to Card was the next best thing to talking to Walt himself. Card successfully steered this company through a challenging time of transition, establishing an incredibly strong base for success on which Disney continues to build.”
OBIT/E. CARDON WALKER, DISNEY’S CORPORATE LEADER FROM 1971-1983, WHO ESTABLISHED EPCOT, TOKYO DISNEYLAND AND DISNEY CHANNEL, DIES AT AGE 89; SUCCEEDED CO-FOUNDER ROY O. DISNEY
E. Cardon “Card” Walker, who led The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) for nearly a decade and a-half following the death of co-founder Roy O. Disney, passed away at his La Canada home on Monday, November 28, at the age of 89.
Walker rose through the ranks at Disney, starting in the mailroom in 1938 and eventually becoming executive vice president and chief operating officer following the death of Walt Disney. Walker worked closely with Walt and Roy Disney on memorable projects, such as It’s a Small World, Meet Mr. Lincoln, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, “101 Dalmatians,” “The Jungle Book,” “Mary Poppins” and the purchase and development of the 28,000 acres in Central Florida that became Walt Disney World.
In 1971, he was named president of the company, in 1976, he added the duties of chief executive officer and, in 1980, he was elected chairman of the board. Under his leadership, the company expanded with such major projects as the development of EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and the creation of the Disney Channel in the then-nascent cable industry.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Card Walker,” said Robert Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “Card was instrumental in keeping Disney strong and growing in the critical years that followed the passing of founders Walt and Roy Disney. There is little question that, were it not for Card Walker’s vision and leadership, Disney would not be what it is today.”
“Card was a predecessor of mine as CEO and I was privileged to consult with him throughout much of my tenure at the company,” said Michael D. Eisner, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “Thanks to his deep understanding of the company and its founders, talking to Card was the next best thing to talking to Walt himself. Card successfully steered this company through a challenging time of transition, establishing an incredibly strong base for success on which Disney continues to build.”
Earlier in his career, Walker’s duties included work in the camera and story departments as unit manager on short subjects, after which he moved into advertising and sales, rising to become the company’s vice president of marketing. In 1960, he was elected to Disney’s board of directors and served on its three-man executive committee. He retired as CEO and chairman in 1983, but continued to serve as a consultant until 1990.
Among Walker’s many awards and honors were Pioneer of the Year from the Foundation of Motion Picture Pioneers, the International Showmanship Award from the National Association of Theater Owners and the Alumnus of the Year Award from UCLA.
Walker was born January 9, 1916 in Rexburg, Idaho and moved to Southern California in 1924. He died of congestive heart failure and is survived by Winnie, his wife of 59 years, as well as three children, Mignonne Walker Decker, Marnie Gaede and Cardon Walker, and five grandchildren, Katie, Matt, Dylan, Marcus and Miles.
Funeral services will be private. Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, 22212 Ventura Blvd., Suite 300, Woodland Hills, CA 91364.