Franklin G. Wells (March 4, 1932 – April 3, 1994) was an American businessman who served as president of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994. Life and career Wells was born in Coronado, California and traced his ancestry back to the Mayflower. He attended Pomona College, which he left as Phi Beta Kappa in 1953. Wells was a recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship, through which he obtained a BA at Oxford University. He went into the army for two years as an infantry first lieutenant and then graduated from Stanford Law School and became a lawyer. Before his tenure with Disney, Wells had worked for Warner Bros. as its West Coast vice president in 1969, then in 1973 as president, and in 1977 as vice chairman until he left the company in 1982. Disney directors Roy E. Disney, Stanley Gold and Sid Bass had ousted President and CEO Ron W. Miller in 1984. The Disney board then recruited Wells to become Disney's president and chief operating officer (1984–1994), along with Michael Eisner as chairman and CEO, and Jeffrey Katzenberg as head of Walt Disney Studios. Wells was unique among the management troika in that he had the highest academic achievement. Although the number-two executive at Disney, Wells reported to the board of directors and not to Eisner. Seven Summits Wells was an avid alpinist and came close to achieving his goal of climbing the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents: Kilimanjaro in Africa Denali (Mount McKinley) in North America Aconcagua in South America Elbrus in Europe Mount Everest in Asia Mount Kosciuszko in Australia Vinson in Antarctica Only Everest eluded him, as bad weather had forced his party to descend when just 3,000 feet from the summit. His partner in the Seven Summits attempt, Dick Bass, an entrepreneur who developed the Snowbird ski resort in Utah, later made it up all seven peaks, the first man to do so. At the Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction at Disneyland, Wells' love of mountain climbing is honored with exploration equipment emblazoned with the words "Wells Expedition," which can be seen during the ride's downhill descent, as well as on a window on Main Street USA honoring him. Death Wells died in a helicopter crash on Easter 1994 while returning from a heliskiing trip in Nevada's Ruby Mountains. Pilot Dave Walton and rock climber Beverly