† Obituary: Disneyland Anaheim’s Marketing Legend Jack Lindquist Dies

This past Sunday (February 28, 2016) Disneyland Anaheim’s marketing legend Jack Lindquist died at the age of 88. Lindquist, who was born on March 15, 1927 in Chicago, worked for 38 years in different positions at Disneyland. Only a few months after the Anaheim-based theme park was opened in July 1955, Walt Disney hired him as Advertising Manager. In the course of his career, Lindquist moved up as a Director and Vice President of Marketing for Disney’s Anaheim and Orlando parks. He also helped set up the marketing division for Tokyo Disneyland. “If you survive long enough in this job, you get a reputation as a guru,” Lindquist once said in an interview. In 1990, he was named the first Disneyland President before retiring in 1993.

Lindquist was inducted as a “Disney Legend” in 1994 and has been part of the “IAAPA Hall of Fame” since last November. He is survived by his wife Isabelle, five children, 16 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. “Jack was a mentor to countless marketing people in the theme park industry. Beyond that: other than Walt Disney himself, I think Jack Lindquist was “Mr. Disneyland” in Orange County,” says Marty Sklar, former Chairman of Walt Disney Imagineering, who worked with Lindquist at Disney for decades. (eap)