LILLIAN DISNEY, ART PATRON, DIES AT 98.

Byline: John Horn Associated Press

Lillian Disney, the conservative check to Walt Disney's daring genius, has died. The widowed arts patron was 98.

Disney died peacefully in her sleep at home late Tuesday, family spokesman Joshua Gertler said Wednesday. She had suffered a stroke early in the morning of Dec. 15 - 31 years to the day that her husband died.

Disney did not live to see the completion of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, an addition to the downtown Music Center which she seeded with a $50 million donation 10 years ago.

``This really is the end of an era for the Disneys,'' said Walt Disney Co. Vice Chairman Roy E. Disney, the son of Walt's late brother, Roy O. Disney. He saw the timing of his aunt's death as both ironic and fitting.

``Walt in 1966, my dad in 1971, my mother (Edna) in 1984, and now Lily have all gone during the 10 days before Christmas,'' he said.

``Mrs. Disney was a full-time partner to Walt and we are all grateful for her contributions to the creation of Mickey Mouse and the Disney company, and for the example she set for family life and community service,'' said Michael D. Eisner, chairman of The Walt Disney Co.

The former Lillian Bounds was married to the studio chief for 41 years.

She was her husband's primary sounding board, and he would run his revolutionary ideas - from ``Snow White'' to Disneyland - by her for approval. She tended to be the careful balance to her husband's brashness: She wouldn't let him take too much of a gamble unless and until his thinking was sound.

She was credited with rejecting the name Mortimer for a new mouse character her husband had invented and instead suggesting Mickey.

Later in her life, Disney was active in fund-raising for the much-delayed Walt Disney Concert Hall, a Frank Gehry-designed new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Born in Spalding, Idaho, in 1899 as the 10th child of Jeanette Short Bounds and Willard Pehall Bounds, Disney grew up in Lapwai on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation.

Disney is survived by her daughter, Diane Disney Miller, of Napa, as well as 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. A daughter Walt and Lillian adopted, Sharon, died in 1993.

There will be no funeral service, the family spokesman said.

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PHOTO Lillian Disney, Walt's wife of 41 years, died Tuesday.

Associated Press