Artist Ralph Kent died of esophageal cancer on 10 September 2007. Born Ralph Kwiatkowski in Buffalo, New York, on 28 January 1939, he first applied to Walt Disney for a job when he was 8. He received a letter back from Disney telling him there were no jobs for eight-year-olds, but to keep studying and drawing.
He legally changed his name to Kent because “nobody could pronounce it.” In 1963, he arrived at Disneyland as a marketing production artist. One day, he built up the courage to personally ask Walt if he remembered receiving a letter from a kid in Buffalo. “Walt said, ‘That was a Polish kid with a long last name.’ I said, ‘I know; I changed it.’ The eyebrow went up and he said, ‘Well, why didn’t you tell me sooner?’ I said, ‘I was just in awe of you, and still am.'”
During his tenure with Disney, he became known as “the Keeper of the Mouse.” His job was to maintain the image of Mickey Mouse, training new artists to draw him properly. Kent was also responsible for licensing and marketing decisions: deciding which products could carry Mickey’s image and which could not. His wife, Linda Kent, said “he wouldnt let out certain merchandise, things Mickey shouldn’t be on. He especially didn’t want him on bras and panties and things like that.”
During nearly 40 years with Disney, Kent became an expert on the finer points of Disney’s world, the look of the characters, their personalities and their interactions. Early in his career, he designed training material for four Disney exhibits at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York. Later, he went on to create marketing materials for Disneyland attractions, such as the Jungle Cruise and Enchanted Tiki Room. He designed a souvenir book for Pirates of the Caribbean and merchandise, as well as a limited-edition adult Mickey Mouse watch which Walt Disney gave the watch to his top executives in 1965.
In 1971, Kent moved to Florida, where he designed souvenirs and merchandise, and later became director of Walt Disney Imagineering East. He was also the man behind Mickey’s signature. For a while he was one of a scant few authorized to sign the mouse’s signature. Kent left Disney in 1985, but returned in 1990 and became a trainer of artists. His work ensured characters would be drawn uniformly, particularly the group known by some as the “Fab Five”: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto.
Outside the world of Disney, Kent designed “Billy Buffalo” (the mascot for the Buffalo Bills professional football team) and “Billy the Marlin” (the mascot for the Florida Marlins major league baseball team).
In 2004, Kent was a corporate trainer at Disney Design Group when he retired from the company. He was named a “Disney Legend” and was honored with a window on Main Street at Walt Disney World.
Kent graduated from the Albright Art School in Buffalo in 1960, then spent two years in the Army, where he illustrated military training aids and films. After his discharge, he went to California, where he found work as a marketing production artist at Disneyland in 1963.
In addition to his wife, Kent is survived by two daughters and three stepsons who all live in Florida: Julie Lowery and Laura Hilgenfeldt; and Scott Dobek, Michael Dobek, and David Gonos; a sister, Joan Grabowski, of Clarence, New York; and a brother, Larry Kwiatkowski of West Seneca, New York.