Former Disney Exec Responsible for Early '00s Favorites, Karen Glass, Passes Away at 63

A former Disney studio executive who helped develop and produce some early ‘00s classics from the company, Karen Glass, has passed away at the age of 63. 

Glass, who left the Disney Company in 2006, left a legacy of live-action favorites at the studio before becoming a prolific producer of holiday films. While at Disney, she helped bring The Princess Diaries to the big screen, after initially buying the book for the studio and insisted on hiring Julie Andrews for the movie. She also helped bring Freaky Friday (2003) to life, and other classics from the era, including Tuck Everlasting and Herbie: Fully Loaded. 

Prior to that, she had been in the marketing team at Buena Vista Television starting in 1989,  before jumping over to Buena Vista Pictures Distribution for five years, as a manager of sales administration before jumping to director of theatrical strategy and planning. By 1995, she joined Buena Vista Pictures marketing as a director of national promotions, before becoming an executive director of the same department in 1996. 

After Disney, Karen became a producer of TV holiday movies, including the 2005 Michelle Trachtenberg favorite, Ice Princess. In recent years, she also brought Leah’s Perfect Gift, Christmas Class Reunion, Never Kiss A Man In A Holiday Sweater, Same Time Next Christmas, and this year’s Lifetime movie, A Pickleball Christmas to the small screen. 

Outside of the film industry, Karen recently started a business to help and counsel high school students applying to college. 

Reportedly, she was already working on a new Mahjong-themed holiday movie, before her passing on December 22nd at the UCLA Medical Center from complications with pancreatic cancer while undergoing a surgical procedure at the hospital. She was 63 years old. 

An obituary shared by her family shares that “Karen's always been interested in everyone around her, outgoing and engaged, warm and funny. She has a devoted group of longtime friends. Her son – Zach – was the center of her world.”

She is survived by her son, Zachary Sean Barry, her sister and brother, Randi Glass Murray and Ira Glass, her  in-laws David Meckel and Susanna Fogel, stepmother Sandy Glass,  nephews Sam and Ben Murray, and uncle Bennett Politzer.