Diego Lerner, an Architect of Disney’s Overseas Expansion, Dies at 71

Argentina’s Diego Lerner, a guiding force for The Walt Disney Company’s roll out in Latin America and Europe from 1990 to this year, died Dec. 18 in Buenos Aires at the age of 71 after a long illness.

In a gesture from Disney, Lerner had been named honorary president of The Walt Disney Company Latin America in November with Martin Iraola taking over in that post.

A private funeral was held for Lerner on Friday attended by close creatives such as Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, creator of “The Boss.”

A consummate company man, Lerner spent nearly 35 years at The Walt Disney Company, in a career which straddled pretty well perfectly the two great surges in the TV business over the last 30 years: the “long expansion or ‘golden age’ of multichannel pay TV in the region,” and “the strategic pivot toward streaming, Disney+, and local production,” noted Omdia Senior Research Director Maria Rúa Aguete.