Michael Eisner Takes the Disney Out of Disney

Re “Roy Disney Quits, Urges Eisner to Resign for Good of Company,” Dec. 1: Thank you, Roy E. Disney, for keeping the legacy of your father, Roy O. Disney, and your uncle, Walt Disney, alive for as long as you have. I have been a fan of Walt Disney Co. for a long time, and Disney’s departure from the company is quite sad indeed.

Chairman Michael Eisner is to blame. This once-great chief executive has cheapened the company’s parks, helmed substandard films, destroyed the morale of cast members and guests alike and now has forced a Disney out of the company that his family built to greatness. Before Roy was forced to take this drastic step, Disney Co.’s board of directors should have said “C ya real soon” to Eisner instead. Maybe I really don’t need that DVD copy of “Pirates of the Caribbean” after all....

Braddoc DeCaires

Marina, Calif.

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In an age of disposable culture, corporate villains and a decreasing supply of executives who can think beyond this quarter, it is disheartening to see Disney being forced to resign from the board of the company his family founded.

Any financial analyst who waves off this resignation as inconsequential to the company does not understand what the company sells and, more important, who has been responsible over the last several decades for maintaining the “Disney magic.” The big amusement parks in Anaheim and Orlando are not called “EisnerWorld” or “Eisnerland.”

As the presiding member of the Disney board, former Sen. George Mitchell ought to use the peacemaking and negotiating skills he has so skillfully employed over the years and find a way to bring Disney back into the company. Walt Disney Co. will probably cease to be the global keeper of enduring cultural integrity absent Disney’s association with Mickey and all his friends. Eisner’s short-term boardroom win is a long-term loss for society.

Peter Huston

Williamsville, N.Y.