Biography | Raymond Watson — The Nine Months He Chaired Disney Through Two Raids

Card Walker told shareholders in February 1983 that he would give up the chairmanship on 1 May.

The New York Times recorded the plan the next day. Ronald Miller would be chief executive. Raymond Watson, already a director, would move from vice chairman to chairman.

Walker wanted to open Tokyo Disneyland first. He did, on 15 April 1983. Then the title passed.

Watson was the first chairman from outside the Disney family and the studio payroll. He kept his Newport Beach development work at first, then came on fuller time as the job swallowed the calendar.

The nine months that followed were the company's most unstable stretch since Walt's death.

Saul Steinberg built a position in the stock and threatened a takeover. A second raid followed. Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold worked the family side. Watson held the board.

On 22 September 1984 he stepped down as chairman so the directors could install Michael Eisner as chairman and chief executive and Frank Wells as president.

A January 1985 proxy later disclosed a $1.77 million payment to end Watson's employment agreement. He stayed on the board and became chairman of the executive committee.

He left the board in March 2004, after three decades. D23 named him a Disney Legend in 2011.

The gate on Buena Vista Street is still the address. The raid is not on the plaque. The minutes are.

Photo: Junkyardsparkle, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons