It was with both great shock and intense sadness that I learned today of the passing of design great Eddie Sotto. Eddie was a former Imagineer who, after leaving Disney in 1999, headed his own series of design studios and worked on projects for corporate as well as private clients.
Eddie was wildly talented, furiously and energetically creative, and quite simply all-around brilliant. He loved this industry and the art of themed entertainment – he lived and breathed its history and its future, and he was an endless font of ideas and inspiration about “the how of wow”. I could listen to him talk for hours. It was great to know someone who had such a clear vision for where the industry was going, while also having such real and lasting connections to its past, having worked alongside legends such as Herb Ryman.
Most importantly, Eddie was an incredibly kind and generous person. He was definitely “one of us”, eager to share his knowledge with fans and fellow creatives alike. He was the first person to ever hire me to work in this industry, taking the risk of employing some random blogger to actually do something creative. When I moved from North Carolina to Los Angeles, my first work was for him and I loved it. I loved listening to him give career advice, reminisce about his time at Disney, talk about where the industry was heading, and just generally pontificate about things. I loved perusing his enormous research library, of which I’m still jealous, and I loved going over to get lunch with him across the street from his Brentwood offices, where he’d point out which ancient street-side trees had ties to legendary Disney landscaper Bill Evans.
He was a great tour guide. Whether giving walking historical tours of Disneyland, or introducing an uninitiated east coaster to the wonders of Knott’s Berry Farm.
Eddie was just fun. The ideas came fast and furious, all the time. And his legacy of work is amazing. You can read about his past on his studio’s site, but Disney fans will no doubt know him first for his breathtaking Main Street at Disneyland Paris, as well as the now-fabled Pooh’s Hunny Hunt attraction in Tokyo. But his contributions went beyond that – even down to some of the wacky voices you might hear while exploring the parks. Voices, by the way, that he would be happy to perform at a moment’s notice.
Even more impressive, as always, were the projects that didn’t make it off the drawing board. These were always the really interesting stories – tales of the fabled 1920s-era Main Street for Paris, for instance, or Tokyo’s Sci-Fi City and Cratertown. So many ideas!
For a time, Eddie headed the Imagineering Concept Development Studio, a sort of internal think tank doing out-there research into new projects and possibilities. From the stories he’d tell, some of the projects they were considering would be considered cutting-edge even today. I was constantly amazed to hear how far ahead of the curve they were on some of the things they wanted to do – everything from interactive toys to augmented reality before that was even a thing.
There’s so much more to be said about Eddie, and I’m sure we’ll hear a lot from folks who knew him far better than I, but we here send out our warmest thoughts to his family and loved ones. To say he will be missed is a vast understatement.
Thankfully, Eddie has left us his own words in a number of interviews, speeches, articles, and social media postings. He was nice enough to join our podcast several times, so if you want to hear more about Eddie from the horse’s mouth, you can listen below.
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