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PASSINGS: Patricia A. Disney, Warren Lockhart, Charla Krupp, King Stitt, Joaquin Martinez

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Patricia A. Disney

Philanthropist, ex-wife of Walt Disney’s nephew Roy

Patricia A. Disney, 77, who grew up as a neighbor of Roy E. Disney in Toluca Lake and was married to him for more than 50 years, died Friday of Alzheimer’s disease, her family announced.

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She was the vice chairman of Shamrock Holdings Inc., the investment company for the Roy E. Disney family.

Patricia married Roy, Walt Disney’s nephew, in 1955, and they had four children, who survive her. After the couple divorced in 2007, he remarried in 2008 and died at 79 in 2009.

“We will always remember her irrepressible spirit and dedication to our company,” Robert Iger, chief executive of the Walt Disney Co., said in a statement. “Patty was known for her kindness, outgoing nature, and especially for her philanthropy.”

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Her philanthropic endeavors included donating $5 million to help establish the REDCAT theater at Disney Hall and $10 million to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank to create the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center.

Born Patricia Dailey on Jan. 11, 1935, in New Orleans, she moved to Toluca Lake when she was 6. She spent a year at the University of Colorado in Boulder and worked in advertising in New York before marrying Roy, the only child of Walt’s brother, Roy O. Disney.

At home, she had long served as her husband’s “gatekeeper,” he once said, and despite the family’s wealth, maintained an outwardly unpretentious lifestyle. One main indulgence was a castle in Ireland, which was her “refuge from the world,” according to a memorial website.

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Warren Lockhart

Producer of noted documentary also worked on ‘Peanuts’ shows

Warren Lockhart, 71, a producer who shared an Academy Award for the 1977 documentary “Who Are the DeBolts? (And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?),” died Jan. 19 at his Culver City office after suffering a stroke, his family announced.

John Korty, Dan McCann and Lockhart produced the documentary film that told the story of the DeBolts, a San Francisco Bay Area couple who adopted children who had been considered “unadoptable” because of their physical or emotional disabilities.

Most of Lockhart’s film, television and theatrical projects focused on family themes, including several productions featuring cartoonist Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts” characters.

Born Oct. 20, 1940, in Los Angeles, Lockhart was the son and grandson of studio sound technicians, his family said. After attending UC Berkeley, he went to work for United Airlines in management marketing and arranging travel logistics for entertainment companies, including the Ice Follies. He was later hired by the Ice Follies and approached Schulz about incorporating his cartoon characters into the ice skating shows.

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Schulz agreed, and in the early 1970s Lockhart became a business representative for the cartoonist as president of Charles Schulz Creative Associates.

He helped market and distribute “Peanuts” merchandise and produce entertainment projects. He is credited as an associate producer of the musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” which opened on Broadway in 1971; as a writer on the musical sequel “Snoopy,” which toured extensively; and as a producer on various “Peanuts” TV movies.

Lockhart shared a Daytime Emmy Award in 1976 with Lee Mendelson for “Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown.” He also shared nominations for two prime-time Emmys in the ‘70s, for a TV movie adaptation of the DeBolts’ story and a Hallmark Hall of Fame production of “The Borrowers” children’s tale.

Charla Krupp

Author of ‘How Not to Look Old’

Charla Krupp, 58, author of the best-selling beauty books “How Not to Look Old” and “How to Never Look Fat Again,” died Jan. 23 at her New York City home. She had breast cancer, according to her husband, Time magazine theater critic Richard Zoglin.

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Krupp wrote and edited entertainment and beauty features at Glamour, InStyle and People StyleWatch magazines, and she appeared more than 100 times as a contributor to the “Today” show on NBC-TV.

“How Not to Look Old,” published in 2008, spent 15 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and inspired Krupp’s 2010 follow-up, which spent four weeks on the best-seller list.

Krupp wrote for the average woman, not just fashionistas, said Karen Murgolo, vice president and editorial director at Grand Central Life & Style, which won out over other publishers interested in what became “How Not to Look Old.”

“I had a woman who said her sister was a professor and never wore makeup, but she still bought the book — because she still has to wear clothes and shoes,” Murgolo said. “And it was a genius title. It’s still selling well.”

Krupp was born Jan. 29, 1953, and grew up in Wilmette, Ill. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1975 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was editor of the Daily Illini.

King Stitt

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Rap reggae pioneer

King Stitt, 72, a pioneer in rap reggae, died Tuesday at his home in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, said musicologist Bunny Goodison, who was a close friend to the performer for more than 50 years. Stitt had prostate cancer and diabetes.

The entertainer known offstage as Winston Sparks started his musical career in the late 1950s on Kingston’s circuit of sound systems, a sort of portable disco. Stitt is credited as one of the earliest performers of “toasting,” a vibrant form of Jamaican deejaying that directly inspired hip-hop music.

He is best known for such songs as “Fire Corner” and “Van Cleef.” He was a close collaborator of the late music producer Clement “Sir Coxsone” Dodd, who ran the celebrated Studio One and guided Stitt’s career for years.

Born with disfigured facial features, Stitt, who was also missing numerous teeth, dubbed himself “The Ugly One.”

“Without being disrespectful, Stitt made a mark vocally and visually. Because of his image everyone knew him,” Goodison said.

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Joaquin Martinez, a Mexican-born character actor known for his roles in westerns, including Paints His Shirt Red in “Jeremiah Johnson” (1972) and the title role in “Ulzana’s Raid” (1972), died Jan. 3 at his home in Everdingen, the Netherlands, according to his family. He was 81 and had pancreatic cancer.

-- Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports

news.obits@latimes.com

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