Today in Disney History (December 15, 1966)

Walt Disney passed away on this day in 1966, just ten days after his 65th birthday at St. Joseph Hospital. His remains were cremated and his ashes interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. 

"He was an original; not just an American original, but an original, period. He was a happy accident; one of the happiest this century has experienced; and judging by the way it's been behaving in spite of all Disney tried to tell it about laughter, love, children, puppies and sunrises, the century hardly deserved him. He probably did more to heal or at least to soothe troubled human spirits than all the psychiatrists in the world. There can't be many adults in the allegedly civilized parts of the globe who did not inhabit Disney's mind and imagination at least for a few hours and feel better for the visitation." -- Eric Sevareid, on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, commenting on the death of Walt Disney on December 15, 1966.