Long-time Disney Marketing Executive Phil Lengyel Passed Away Last Month
The Walt Disney Company is mourning the loss of an esteemed colleague with the news that Phil Lengyel, a longtime marketing executive with Disney Parks & Resorts passed away on December 15th. Phil was 70 years old and the cause of death was cardiac arrest according to a recent obituary in the Hollywood Reporter.
Lengyel joined the Walt Disney Company back in 1982 and spent 23 years with the company. During his time at Disney, he was responsible for marketing and selling the most aggressive park and resort expansion in the company’s history- helping to make Disney World in Florida the #1 vacation destination in the World.
Lengyel was also responsible for the creation and development of the Disney Sports and the Parks Alliance Development organizations. These organizations support joint marketing programs of the company’s theme parks and major global corporations.
“From Raglan Road to our golf courses, this place is filled with Phil’s memory, and his fingerprints are all over the work that made us what we are today,” Walt Disney World Resort president Josh D’Amaro said in a statement.
Added former Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner: “Phil was brilliant in business development and the marketing group at Walt Disney World. He was polite and aggressive at the same time. He worked with CEOs to achieve creative and fair deals for Disney. He did things his way and got them done. Phil was one of the funniest, kindest, decent and most caring people on the planet, with an outsized heart to match his personality.”
Lengyel left Disney in 2005 to fill the newly created position of Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, host of the Indianapolis 500. After that, he moved on to Dick Cook Studios run by the former chairman of Disney Studios.
He was born in 1949 in Hammond, Indiana and attended Munster High School and Ball State University where he received a bachelor’s degree in radio and television. He also earned an honorary doctorate degree in business administration from Webber College. He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Jana; and their children Lauren and Shane as well as Will his son from a previous marriage. Other family members include daughter-in-law Chrisdin; daughter Kelly and son-in-law Jason. Grandchildren include Tony, Alani, Aiden and Addison.
Donations can be made in his honor to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.