I just wanted to make a quick posting here about the fact that Roy Disney (the nephew of good ol' Walt--a patron saint of the furry universe) died yesterday at 79 years of age. I not only wanted to acknowledge it because he was sort of the last link to the old Disney anthro-realm that we, as furs, all love or at least appreciate, but also because I had a personal connection to it, albeit slight.

It's just that I met Roy Disney once. It was when I worked for Sun Sportswear and we had done some sample artwork and had gone down to Burbank to make a bid for licensing rights to do shirts for "The Lion King". I was included in the party and it was not only my first trip to California, but my only visit to Disney Studios. We had lunch in the building with the 7 Dwarves holding up the roof, and during the meeting we saw, before anyone in the general public got the chance, the rough cut of that stunning trailer for TLK that can still make the hair on the back of my neck tingle. ANYWAY, Roy Disney came in to meet us and I got to shake hands with him and I just remember thinking, "I am shaking hands with Walt Disney's nephew as well as the director of the animation division!"

It was really my only brush with the Disney universe (other than meeting Herbie, of course--love ya Herbie!), and it was in the person of Roy Disney. And so his passing makes me sad. I hope it isn't also the passing of Disney Studios from ALL its anthro and hand-drawn animation work--although, the new "Princess and the Frog" movie gives me some hope that people still believe in classic Disney...