Edward Robert Sears was an American animator during the Golden Age of American animation. Sears worked for the Fleischer Studios in the late-1920s and early-1930s, and was hired away from Max Fleischer to work at the Walt Disney studio in 1931. As the first head of Disney's story department, Sears did significant story work on many Disney features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr.