Raymond L. Watson was the developer and planner of the town of Irvine, California, Irvine Company president and the chairman of Walt Disney Company. Watson was born in Seattle, Washington in 1926 but grew up in Oakland California after his mother passed away in 1928. After high school he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was sent to the University of Montana where he took his prerequisite courses before graduating from UC Berkeley School of Architecture. For a brief period in the 1950s, Watson jumped between the Stockton and San Francisco offices of the Donald Haines firm before moving in 1960 to Irvine in order to capitalize on Orange County's growth and the Irvine Company's hopes to channel it. Watson's team managed to win the trust of the county and had their plan for building Irvine accepted which focused on creating "outer cities" to reflect new home-centered ways of life. The University of California had also begun negotiations with the Irvine Company board to create their ninth campus in the city. In 1973, Watson became president of the Irvine Company after Bill Mason's death and faced challenges with the sale of the company as well as the attempt to incorporate the city of Irvine. After leaving the Irvine Company, he became the chair of the Disney board in 1982 and was the first executive from outside the family. In this interview, Watson discusses his early years, family history, schooling, Army Air Corps experience, working in architecture, thoughts on UC Berkeley, Irvine Company and key figures William Pereira, Stan Ott, and Charles Thomas, UC Irvine, Margaret Mead on cookie-cutter architecture, relationship and work with Disney, management of the Irvine Company, beach development, politics and demographics of Orange County, and his reflections on career and family.