Imagineer, Disney Legend Don Edgren dies, 83

Posted:
Jan 20, 2007

Engineer Don Edgren, named a Disney Legend last October 9 for his work in designing Disneyland, died December 28 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Oregon. He was 83.

A resident of Murrieta, California, he died of a hemorrhagic stroke, said a daughter, Kathlee Partee. Edgren had been visiting relatives.

A professional engineer licensed in California, Florida and Hawaii, Edgren worked for Wheeler & Gray, Structural Engineers, at the Walt Disney Studios on the structural design and detail of Disneyland from late 1954 until the park opened on July 17, 1955. "He was the original chief engineer 'in the field' -- on the construction sites." said Marty Sklar, an executive vice-president of Walt Disney Imagineering.

Edgren also had a major role in the building of Disney theme parks in Florida and Tokyo.

Pirates of the Caribbean was under construction as a walk-through Disneyland attraction when Walt Disney decided to change it into a boat ride to open in 1967. Edgren and his crew of engineers suddenly had to find out how to take the new, larger ride deeper underground.

"Don knew it was an engineering challenge, but he had that can-do spirit. Nothing was impossible," Sklar told the Los Angeles Times.

He started working to help Disney in 1954, when his engineering firm he worked for was hired to help prepare Disneyland for its opening the following year.

Disney hired Edgren in 1961 following an "engineering baptism" that included supervising construction of the Matterhorn attraction, Sklar said.

"Many of the engineers said the Matterhorn couldn't be built," Harriet Burns, an original Imagineer, told the Los Angeles Times. "They said it wasn't feasible to put toboggans, a sky ride and waterfalls in an edifice inside the Matterhorn, but Don got it built. 'Cool' was his middle name. He was a wonderful guy with a great sense of humor."

Edgren worked as a project engineer on the Ford Motor Company exhibit for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair (one of four shows Disney created for the event), and lived in New York during the construction of the Ford facility and the installation of the "Magic Skyway" show and ride from March 1963 to April 1964.

The giant rotunda at the Ford exhibit featured audio-animatronic dinosaurs and moved people through the building in vehicles on a fixed track -- which would later become a feature of many Disney rides.

He led the Imagineering engineering team for New Orleans Square and Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, while also participating in the initial master planning for Walt Disney World in Florida. Edgren was promoted to vice-president, engineering/Florida in 1969, and relocated there in August that year as head of the field engineering efforts there.

Edgren returned to WED Enterprises in Glendale, California in April 1972 as vice-president of engineering. He led the Imagineering engineers on the first Space Mountain (Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, December 1974), after which he left Disney briefly.

Returning to WED in May 1979 as director of engineering for Tokyo Disneyland, Don coordinated all engineering design activities, relocating to Japan in September 1979 as director of engineering for Tokyo Disneyland. He especially enjoyed living in Japan, his family said.

He returned stateside to WED in May 1983, where he was responsible for the direction and supervision of all project engineers.

Elvgren retired from the Walt Disney Company in 1987.

"Through the years, Imagineering had what I would respect as two 'quintessential engineering captains' -- Don Edgren and a protégé of his, John Zovich (chief engineer for Epcot)," Sklar said.

"They were constantly challenged by Walt, and the creative teams that followed (including me!), to do things that sometimes defied 'engineering logic' -- and, of course, tried and true methods. Because, as Walt said, 'It's kind of fun to do the impossible!'"

Last fall, Edgren was named a Disney Legend alongside such fellow honorees as singer-songwriter Elton John and broadcast journalist Peter Jennings.

"Walt Disney was a great man. To think I worked for Disney studios — my God, it was great. It wasn't just a plain old job," Edgren told the Riverside Press-Enterprise at the time. "People treated each other like family."

Born in Los Angeles, to a mason and his wife on September 11, 1923, he graduated from Fremont High School in 1942. He joined the Army Air Forces and flew 45 combat missions in the Pacific theater during the Second World War, his family said.

Back home in 1945, he married his high school sweetheart; they raised two daughters in Whittier. While an engineer, he attended USC part-time and received a civil engineering degree.

At Disney World, Edgren received a small notice in the form of a paintnig on a second-story window on Main Street. He is listed as a partner in the imaginary engineering firm Super Structures Inc.

Besides Evie, his wife of 61 years, and daughter Kathlee Partee of West Covina, Don Edgren is survived by daughter Colleen Ramme of Eugene, Oregon; sister Burdette Chaddick of Glendale; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.