SEVENTY-FIVE years after the whole Mickey Mouse operation began, the Disney organisation yesterday severed its final familial tie with its founding father.

The boardroom departure of Roy E Disney, a nephew of the company's creator, Walt Disney, was far from harmonious. Though he officially ''retired,'' he was effectively ousted from his position as vice-chairman of the media giant.

According to the company, Mr Disney, who will be 74 next month, was going because he was almost two years beyond their mandatory retirement age.

Clearly stung by the move, Mr Disney reluctantly agreed to leave, but declared that Michael Eisner, the company's chairman and chief executive, should step down too.

Although Mr Eisner - who has led the Disney organisation for almost 20 years - was originally recruited by Roy Disney, there is no love lost between the two men.

''It is my sincere belief that it is you who should be leaving and not me,'' Mr Disney told Mr Eisner in a bitterly destructive letter, confirming that he was stepping down from the board and from his job as head of feature animation.

The pair have been at each other's throats for the best part of 10 years, although, until now, details of their acrimonious relationship have been confined to the privacy of the Disney boardroom.

Ironically, it has been Mr Disney who has been calling for Mr Eisner's removal because he believes that, as CEO, he has done his uncle Walt's heritage a disservice.

Mr Disney's resignation letter says it all. He attacks Mr Eisner for failing to bring the prime-time schedule of the company's television network, ABC, ''back from the abyss''.

More than that, he criticises the ''timidity'' of the Disney Group's investments in its key theme parks in California, Paris, and the one currently under construction in Hong Kong.

''You have tried to build parks on the cheap and they show it and the attendance figures reflect it,'' he says.

Mr Disney goes on to remark that, under Mr Eisner's control, the company was regarded by all who were associated with it as ''rapacious, soulless, and always looking for the quick buck rather than long-term value.'' This, in turn, was leading to a loss of public trust.

Furthermore, there had been a ''creative brain drain'' which, for Mr Disney, was especially trying because, as chairman of the feature animation division, it had resulted in his empire being whittled down.

In short, he said that the company had lost ''its focus,

its creative energy, and its

heritage''.

In private, other investors have echoed Mr Disney's complaints over recent years, but financial results have improved recently and shares have risen sharply this year.

Speaking for the company, George Mitchell, presiding director of the board, said Mr Disney and two other directors, Thomas Murphy and Raymond Watson, would have to leave because of the mandatory retirement age. The board is expected to pick a new slate of directors in January.

The board's nominating committee, which had waived the retirement age cap in the past, had decided to apply the rule, Mr Mitchell explained.

''It is unfortunate that the committee's judgment to apply these unanimously adopted governance rules has become an occasion to raise again criticisms of the direction of the company, and calls for change of management that have been previously rejected by the board,'' he added.

Certainly, Mr Disney's departure from the company his uncle founded in 1928 is more symbolic than significant. As the last of the Disney dynasty, his resignation breaks all connections with a very famous past. Disney, like Nike and Coca-Cola, is now just a brand name.

Roy Disney's beloved animation division, once the mainstay of the company with cartoon feature films such as Snow White, Bambi, Fantasia, and The Jungle Book to its credit, is now a shadow of what it once was.

Spending on feature films has been slashed, too. These days the company's theme parks and resorts are responsible for the bulk of Disney's

revenues.

Mr Disney's letter is seen by some observers as an 11th-hour attempt to turn opinion - public, shareholder, and boardroom - against Mr Eisner. However, it looks as though it will take more than a wish upon a star for it to succeed.

When Mr Eisner arrived at Disney in 1984, the company was in such a parlous state that there was serious talk of the house that Walt built being demolished; broken up and sold off. Between then and 1997 Mr Eisner raised the media giant's revenue from $1.65bn to $22bn. During the same period, its market value leapt from $2bn to $67bn.

However, the company's profits last year were down by a third over its 1997 heyday. A sluggish economy and terrorism fears have hit its theme parks badly and, like most media companies, there has been a serious slump in advertising revenues.

Disney shares fell six cents to $23.03 after news of Mr Disney's resignation.

decades of success

1928 It all started with the mouse that roared. Mickey was first featured in Walt Disney's short animated cartoon, Steamboat Willie.

1929 Walt Disney Productions is formed.

1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney's first full-length cartoon feature film is released with great success.

1940 Walt Disney productions offers shares as the company goes public to help lower debt. It moves from Hollywood to Burbank, where it remains to this day.

1945 Walt's brother, Roy, becomes company president.

1953 Buena Vista Distribution Company formed to act as Disney's film distributor.

1955 Disneyland, the company's first theme park, opens in Anaheim, California.

1966 Walt Disney dies from lung cancer.

1971 Disney World opens in Florida. Roy Disney dies.

1983 Tokyo Disneyland opens. The Disney Channel debuts on cable television.

1984 Michael Eisner becomes new CEO for Disney.

1992 Disney launches its own National Hockey league team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

1993 Disney acquires Miramax Films.

1996 ABC Television network becomes part of the Disney empire. Company also buys the California Angels baseball club.

2003 The Walt Disney Company is arguably the largest media company in the world. It owns ABC Television, ABC Radio, and the ESPN cable TV group. Its movie companies include Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Dimension.

It operates Disney theme parks in California and Florida as well as franchises in Tokyo and Disneyland Paris. Another Disneyland is under construction in Hong Kong. There is also the Florida-based Disney Cruise Line.