Los Angeles ? Disney vice chairman Roy E. Disney — the last family member to be active in the media giant — has resigned from its board of directors, the company said Sunday. He reportedly called on Chairman Michael Eisner to resign as well.

Disney’s resignation may be a pre-emptive move to avoid being forced off the board of The Walt Disney Co. The board’s governance and nominating committee decided not to recommend Disney for another term because he was over the mandated retirement age of 72, said the board’s presiding director, former Sen. George Mitchell.

The full board is scheduled to meet today and Tuesday in New York, and board membership is on the agenda.

Disney, the nephew of company co-founder Walt Disney, has been increasingly critical of Eisner’s leadership and has called for Eisner’s resignation before, a move that was rejected by the board.

Disney’s resignation was first reported in the Wall Street Journal, which said he sent a scathing three-page letter to Eisner on Sunday critical of his leadership.

“It is my sincere belief that it is you that should be leaving and not me,” Disney wrote, according to a text of the letter obtained by the Journal.

Eisner is credited with building the company from a minor maker of mediocre films and proprietor of two theme parks in 1984 into a media giant that includes five theme parks around the world, the ABC television network, the ESPN sports cable channel and one of the highest-grossing movie studios.