Longtime Disney Executive, Founding Editor of the Orlando Business Journal, and former district administrator for Reedy Creek Improvement District, Bill Warren, has passed away according to the Orlando Sentinel.
What’s Happening:
- Bill Warren, longtime Disney Exec and founding editor of the Orlando Business Journal, has died at the age of 68 years old.
- It was 1995 when Warren became the vice president of Public Affairs at Walt Disney World, later promoted to Vice President of Government Relations in 2008.
- He later became the district administrator for Reedy Creek Improvement District, which many will recall as the Disney-controlled taxing district created by the Florida Legislature to provide government services to the dozens of square miles that makes up the Walt Disney World Resort.
- Warren cited the 1998 opening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom as the highlight of his career in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel back in 2011, where he said “I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work closely with the animal programs team as the park was built. Their passion inspired the company to engage in a wide range of scientific and charitable projects on behalf of endangered animals around the globe.”
- Warren passed away on March 26 according to reports, which also indicate that he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s several years ago.
- His wife, Lisa Warren, told the Orlando Sentinel, “When Bill found out, he wanted to do everything he could, obviously for himself, but for [those] coming behind him, too…Anyone facing this disease needs to just learn as much about it as they can, and find every opportunity to still enjoy life. We definitely did that for as long as we could.”
- The report also adds that along with participating in medical research trials, he also donated his brain for scientific study.
- Warren is survived by his wife, two sons, and a grandson. A memorial service will be held in Winter Park, FL later this month.