A Good Cook
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
The news last Friday was brief, but BIG: Dick Cook was “stepping down” as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. Mr. Cook officially stated:
I am stepping down from my role as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, effective immediately. I have loved every minute of my 38 years that I have worked at Disney… from the beginning as a ride operator on Disneyland’s steam train and monorail to my position as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. To wrap up my Disney experience in a neatly bundled statement is close to impossible. But what I will say is, during my time at the Studio, we have achieved many industry and Company milestones. Our talent roster is simply the best in the business. I believe our slate of upcoming motion pictures is the best in our history. But most of all, I love the people, my colleagues, my teammates, who are the most talented, dedicated and loyal folks in the world. I know that I leave the Studio in their exceptional hands. I have been contemplating this for some time now and feel it’s the right time for me to move on to new adventures…and in the words of one of my baseball heroes, Yogi Berra, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger’s short eulogy read:
Throughout his distinguished 38-year Disney career, Dick Cook’s outstanding creative instincts and incomparable showmanship have truly enriched this company and significantly impacted Disney’s great legacy. We thank Dick for his tremendous passion for Disney, and his many accomplishments and contributions to The Walt Disney Studios, including a very promising upcoming film slate. On behalf of everyone at Disney, we wish him the best with all the future has to offer.
Of course, everyone knows that there is always more to an abrupt corporate departure of this magnitude, and within days the “untold” stories began to surface in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Google “Dick Cook”, and you can triangulate a fascinating story.
I had the pleasure of breaking bread with Mr. Cook a few years ago in the rotunda of the Team Disney building. As a CG supervisor with Walt Disney Feature Animation, I must admit to being pleasantly surprised that someone like Dick Cook would accept an unsolicited lunch invitation from a “below the line” frame jockey. But he was as down to earth as you can imagine: from his order of spare ribs and fries, to the candid expression of his concerns and hopes for The Walt Disney Company. Given the content of that conversation years ago, it was with sadness but no surprise that I read of his departure last week.
Time will tell what lies in store for Dick Cook and the company that he loved and served so well. “It’s just business” is a pervasive rationale in Hollywood, but for Dick Cook it never was “just” that.
Farewell, Captain Cook!
