''For the American poet, see Irwin Russell (poet).'' Irwin E. Russell (January 24, 1926 - August 23, 2013) was an American entertainment lawyer, whose clients included Dr. Seuss,

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...

, Jim Henson, David Wolper, Christina Crawford and Robert Preston. Russell was a leading attorney behind the 1984 takeover of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and the accession of Michael Eisner as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Disney. Prior to this, Russell negotiated deals which brought ''

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is a popular and long-running American hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes ...

'' to television and Jim Henson's Muppets to ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. Russell was born on January 24, 1926. He received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1949. He worked in private practice in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Russell had also served on the

National Wage Stabilization Board National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, based in Washington D.C. Russell moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1971. One of Russell's best known clients was Michael Eisner, whom he represented for more than forty years from Eisner's time at

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, and Disney. He continued to represent Eisner at The Tornante Company until his death in August 2013. In 1984, Russell negotiated the deal which brought Eisner to Disney as the company's CEO. Irwin Russell then served on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. Irwin Russell died of complications from leukemia on August 23, 2013, at the age of 87. His was survived by his wife, Suzanne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Irwin 1926 births 2013 deaths American entertainment lawyers Disney people Harvard Law School alumni New York (state) lawyers Deaths from leukemia Directors of The Walt Disney Company