Last Picture of Disney Legend and Beloved Imagineer Marty Sklar

The picture above is most probably the last picture shot of Marty Sklar, here with Imagineer Tony Baxter and John Stamos. The picture was shot backstage at D23 when the "Legends of Imagineering" discussion happened and would turn out to be Marty's last appearance. Marty Sklar was in great form that day and Tony and him had a lot of fun with host John Stamos who made the show both enjoyable and informative at the same time.

Marty Sklar memorial service happened a few hours ago and Joe Rhode posted on Instagram this wonderful tribute to Marty who will help all of you to understand why Marty Sklar was so beloved by all WDI Imagineers:

"I went to Marty Sklar's memorial service today, at which family and friends said beautiful and memorable things about this great man, who is now gone. It's not for me to repeat or report those words here. I just thought I'd leave those of you who may not have known Marty with my sense of what he meant to us...(besides being leader of Walt Disney Imagineering for half a century.) Many of us who are Imagineers today would simply be nothing without Marty Sklar because we were pretty much nothing when he found us. He had the bravery and the vision to indulge us until we showed promise. And he had the compassion to forgive us when we screwed up, and give us a second, and third chance, because he knew that creative work is really hard to do, and that success comes from unexpected quarters. Marty Sklar had absolute faith in creativity and in creative people. We who remain to honor him are the proof of that. We were the blank sheets of paper he spoke about so often, and it is his pen that has written us into being. We at Imagineering refer to the early creative development process as "Blue Sky." The birthplace and nursery of creative intuitions. Marty protected and defended this territory fiercely. Without that carefully nurtured seed, all that follows is meaningless...just busy work. A blue sky. That's a better monument than any stone. Not a commemoration of what was, but a blue sky filled with invisible dreams of things that are yet to be. That is Marty. Others will say more and better, but to me, he was the master wizard, the one who made the ones who made the Magic."

You can follow Joe Rhode on Instagram HERE.