Ex-Disneyland Executive : Rites for Jack Sayers Scheduled Today

Memorial services for former Disneyland executive Jack Sayers, will be held today at 11 a.m. at the Pacific View Mortuary Park chapel in Corona del Mar.

Sayers, 71, died Friday at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach after a long bout with cancer.

Sayers, who retired 13 years ago as the park’s vice president for industrial sales, had also been park manager, customer relations director, head of the park operating committee and director of lessee relations during his 18-year career at Disneyland.

Collected Memorabilia

Described as “creative and brilliant,” Sayers was never without his Mickey Mouse watch, according to longtime friend Joe Leighton. Sayers’ home in Corona del Mar was filled with Disneyland memorabilia, including pictures of him with friend Walt Disney, Leighton said.

“It was a tailor-made job for him because he was a kid at heart. He could hardly get there in the morning early enough to take part in the fun and festivities,” Leighton said.

A pioneer in the entertainment industry, Sayers served as assistant publicity director at Columbia Broadcasting System in 1937 and as a CBS radio announcer from the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, Leighton said.

A 1946 job at George Gallup Co. led to a longtime friendship with Walt Disney and the beginning of his career at the park in 1955, the year it opened, Leighton said.

Volunteered Services

After retiring from Disneyland in 1973, Sayers volunteered his creative talents to the International Executive Corps and worked on a project to establish theme parks in other countries. Sayers traveled to Brazil and Korea to design layouts for the parks, Leighton said. Disneyland Manager Bob Roth said Sayers was “one of those people you always hear about. He was extremely well-known and respected throughout the organization.”

Walt Disney World in Florida dedicated a window on Main Street to Sayers, said Peter Clark, vice president of participant affairs.

“He was an extremely talented, capable executive who was instrumental in the building of Disneyland and the maintenance of its high standards,” Clark said.

Sayers is survived by his wife, Gwen; a son, John; a daughter, Wendy, and five grandchildren. The family requests that memorial donations go to the American Cancer Society.