Richard Lester Disney (June 6, 1887 – February 17, 1976)[1] was a judge of the United States Tax Court from 1936 to 1951.
Born in Richland, Kansas, he was the brother of future-Congressman Wesley E. Disney.[2] Disney was a Rhodes Scholar, and received a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford in 1912.[1][3] Disney served two terms in the Kansas House of Representatives, from 1914 to 1917, later moving to Oklahoma, where he entered the practice of law.[4]
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Disney to a seat on the United States Board of Tax Appeals. At the time, Disney was himself a candidate for a seat in the United States Congress, from which he indicated he would not withdraw until confirmed by the U.S. Senate for the Board of Tax Appeals appointment.[4] Disney was reappointed to President Harry S. Truman,[1] and retired from the United States Tax Court effective December 31, 1951.[5] He thereafter "headed the Rhodes Scholarship Committee in Oklahoma for a generation".[1]
On September 6, 1914, Disney married Harriet Florence Mitchell in Neodesha, Kansas, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.[1] Harriet died in 1969, and Disney died in 1976, and the age of 88.[1]