A PR Newswire release late yesterday announced that Irving Ludwig has passed away at the age of 95. Ludwig was the former president of Buena Vista Distribution and was instrumental in launching successful marketing campaigns for such heavyweight Disney classics as Fantasia and Mary Poppins. He is remembered as an honest businessman who never sacrificed personal relations to business endeavors. Dick Cook honored Ludwig as a “giant in our industry and an inspirational figure for all of us who had the honor of working with him,” while Roy E. Disney recalled him as “an important part of the Disney Studio family ever since I can remember. . . . He was a caring and dynamic man who was passionately devoted to the Studio and quality family entertainment.” He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1993.