Alex Wallau, One-Time Boxing Announcer Who Helped Disney Navigate Media Sector, Has Died

Alex Wallau, who rose from working as a director and producer at ABC Sports to calling play by play for boxing matches to advising Disney mainstays ranging from Robert A. Iger to Jimmy Kimmel, died Friday after a long battle with throat cancer at the age of 80.

Wallau was seen as a critical guide to the media and TV business within Disney — by both people who worked off camera and those who appeared regularly in front of it.

At a recent Bloomberg conference in Los Angeles, late night host Jimmy Kimmel called Wallau “a guy who’s really been my mentor at ABC.