Roy Edward Disney PO ’51, a powerful force in the entertainment empire named for his uncle, died Wednesday. He was 79.Disney’s death was confirmed by Clifford A. Miller, a spokesman for Shamrock Holdings, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, according to

several

media

outlets

.

Disney, who had suffered from stomach cancer, died at the Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif., the

Los Angeles Times

reported. He was a director emeritus and consultant for the company.Disney had a varsity-swimming letter and was a pitcher in junior-varsity baseball during his time as a Sagehen, said Cynthia Peters, a college spokeswoman. He was an English major and endowed the Roy Edward Disney Professorship of Creative Writing, a position that was held by the late writer David Foster Wallace.