LOS ANGELES — Ron W. Miller, a former University of Southern California football star who married a daughter of Walt Disney and later became CEO of the Burbank entertainment giant, died Saturday at 85.

Miller passed away in Napa, where he owned Silverado Vineyards. He served as president and later chief executive of Disney from 1978 until 1984, when he was pushed out in a power struggle that left Frank Wells and Michael Eisner in charge.

The company credited him as being a driving force behind such initiatives as Epcot Center, Touchstone Pictures and the Disney Channel.

Miller married Walt Disney’s daughter, Diane, in 1954, and he served in the Army and later played for the Los Angeles Rams before he came to work at Walt Disney Studios in 1957. Later, the couple helped establish the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio area of San Francisco.