Disney Legend Jim Cora’s influence at the company was so vast — stretching around the globe from Disneyland to Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris — that it took multiple windows dedicated in his honor on Main Street U.S.A. to capture all of his contributions.
Cora passed away on Sunday, March 21 after a brief hospitalization at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, according to Disney officials. He was 83.
Cora started at Disneyland in 1957 as a part-time attractions host polishing 3D glasses at the Mickey Mouse Club Theater and retired 43 years later as chairman of Disney International.
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Cora credited his rapid rise to company founder Walt Disney who set his career path in motion with a promotion into a training and development role. The boss sent the teenager over to the Disneyland administration building to find Disney University founder Van Arsdale France with the admonition: “Tell him Walt sent you. I think he may have something for you.”
Disney Parks chairman and former Disneyland resort president Josh D’Amaro called Cora one of the company’s last connections to Walt Disney.
“Very few people have a Disney legacy that reaches as far and wide as Jim Cora,” D’Amaro said in a statement. “His dedication to bringing Disney magic to people around the world was only matched by the passion he exuded throughout his career and for the many years that followed. I always loved hearing Jim’s thoughts about our business. He was one of our last connections to Walt Disney and he will be missed dearly.”
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Cora’s career took him around Disney’s ever-expanding world of theme parks.
In 1971, Cora implemented the “Disney Way of Leadership” program at the Magic Kingdom with the opening of the Florida theme park.
Ahead of the 1983 opening of Tokyo Disneyland, Cora was named managing director of operations for the Japan theme park before being promoted vice president of Walt Disney Productions Japan, overseeing Disney’s operational and design standards.
“My dad didn’t speak Japanese fluently, but he learned the things he needed to successfully communicate how a park should run and make sure the brand was safe,” said his son, Jim, in a statement released by Disney.
After Tokyo Disneyland, Cora switched his attention to master planning and site research for Euro Disneyland, which would later be renamed Disneyland Paris.
In the 1990s, Cora was responsible for the creative direction of Tokyo DisneySea. He retired as chairman of Disney International in 2001. Cora was named a Disney Legend in 2005.
Cora was a role model and mentor to many of his fellow Disney cast members, according to his son.
“As I talk to his colleagues and friends, I’m finding that so many people are telling me, ‘He was like a dad to me, too,’” said his son, who has worked at Disneyland for 33 years.
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In retirement, Cora volunteered with Taller San Jose Hope Builders and served on the board of directors of St. Joseph Hospital in Orange. His memoir, “Not Just a Walk in the Park: My Worldwide Disney Resorts Career,” will be published later this year by Disney Editions.
Cora is survived by his wife, Mimi; daughter Rene Wong and her husband Kelly; his son Jim, and his wife, Bonnie; two grandchildren, Kayleigh and Joshua; and siblings Marilyn and John.
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