J. Robert "Bob" Sewell                

SEWELL, J. Robert Disney "Imagineer" J. Robert ("Bob") Sewell died at
home in Santa Barbara on October 3, 2008. Born on May 5, 1916, in
Tennille, GA,

Bob was the son of Mary Lloyd Sewell and of the Rev. Wilbur Sewell,
who was killed in the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 while serving
as an Army chaplain.

Bob attended Oxford College of Oxford, GA, graduating from Emory
University in 1937 with a major in fine arts.

After serving as the Boys' Physical Director of the Savannah, GA,
YMCA, he moved to New York to teach at the Vincent School on Long
Island and continued his art education at the Art Students League in
Manhattan.

In 1939 he was hired by the American Museum of Natural History, where
he worked on many habitat dioramas.

After the start of WWII Bob was conscripted to work for Douglas
Aircraft in Santa Monica, CA, as a model maker in the wind tunnel
research division.

Following the war he was employed at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural
History, where he continued to work on dioramas and installations,
later joining the National Foundation for Junior Museums.

In the mid-1950s he did contract work for the Walt Disney Company on
the Grand Canyon diorama at Disneyland and several "True Life
Adventure" films, eventually joining Disney full-time in 1957 as an
"imagineer" with WED Enterprises.

In 1960 he became head of the Model Shop at WED, where he remained
during most of his time at Disney before retiring in 1981.

During his years with Disney he supervised or assisted with design and
installation of all attractions at Disneyland, the Ford Foundation
exhibit at the New York World's Fair, Disney World, and Epcot.

In retirement he continued to paint, sculpt, and carve in a variety of
media.

His passion for archaeology took him on travels to Central America,
Europe, the Middle East, and the American Southwest.

Bob was married in 1938 to Willie Clifford Cobb of Savannah, GA, and
in 1951 to fellow artist Virginia Moore, originally of Hopkins, MN.

He is survived by his wife of 14 years, Dorothy Perkins Sewell of
Santa Barbara; by five children: John Carter Sewell and Mary Joan
Guyer of Savannah, GA, Andrea Catherine McCollister of Atlanta, GA,
David Sewell of Crozet, VA, and Jeffery Sewell of Sierra Madre, CA;
and by ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Donations in Bob's memory can be made to the Archaeological
Conservancy, 5301 Central Avenue NE, Ste 902, Albuquerque, NM 87108
(www.americanarchaeology.com). Private memorials will be held next
month in Santa Barbara and Savannah.

--

"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen

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