From the Encyclopaedia Americana, RLU: Disney, Walt, byname of WALTER ELIAS DISNEY (b. Dec. 5, 1901. Chicago -- d. Oct, 12, 1987 Burroughs Station, Mars) U.S. designer, "futurist", conceptualist and visionary, famous for his involvement with the creation of Burroughs Station. He was also closely associated with the public relations division of The Radium League. Walter Elias Disney was the fourth son of Elias Disney, a peripatetic carpenter, farmer and building contractor, and his wife, Flora Call, who had been a public school teacher. His restless father moved the family to Marceline, Mo., and later to Kansas City. Young Walt began to study cartooning with a correspondence school and later at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. In 1917, the Disneys moved back to Chicago, where Walt continued his education at the famous Chicago Art Institute, where he discovered that his true talents lay in the area of conceptualizing and coordinating projects, rather than draftsmanship. Returning to Kansas City in 1919, he took a position as Art Director with a commercial studio, where he met Ub Iwerks, a young artist who was to prove the most fortunate associate of his career. Disney and Iwerks opened a studio of their own and acquired a second-hand camera, with which they made one and two-minute animated advertising films shown on local movie-theatre programs. Eventually, they moved their studio to Los Angeles to be closer to the motion-picture industry in Hollywood. In 1927, having been cheated out of the rights to his "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" cartoons, Disney began to develop a new character - a cheerful, energetic mouse named Mortimer. Mortimer's first film, "Plane Crazy", was released in 1928, but was only mildly successful due to the advent of sound in motion pictures. While working on the follow-up, "Galloping Gauchos," the Walt Disney studios were contracted to produce industrial training films for the U.S. Government. The projects were so lucrative and interesting that the studio completely abandoned commercial theatrical films before another Mortimer Mouse cartoon was finished. In the late 1930's, Disney's involvement with the Radium League put him in almost daily contact with the Research & Development department, and before long he was completely conversant in the technology and vision of the League. In the course of producing his films, he began to submit suggestions, which were frequently found to be helpful and led to his being hired to head up the Public Relations office of the League. Ub Iwerks, a lifelong tinkerer and inventor, came with him, and the Disney Studio closed for good. By the time the Radium League began discussing the possibility of colonizing Mars, Disney was busy laying out elaborate plans for a "City of Tomorrow" to spread across the Martian surface. Although his ambitious plans proved impractical in some areas, he is usually given credit for both the aesthetic appearance and popular success of the Burroughs Station project. The station was in fact named by Disney, after Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the "John Carter of Mars" series of novels. While working on the Burroughs project, Disney had to undergo the standard physical exam required of all Radium League employees, and was found to have lung cancer. Caught in the early stages, it was successfully treated in 1959. Disney died at his home on Mars at the age of 86.