15 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK: Ending a divisive debate, the board of Walt Disney Productions announced the hiring of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells to lead the beleaguered studio back to stability Officials with the employee stock ownership plan at Parsons Corp. moved to acquire all shares of the giant engineering firm for $561 million and turn it into a private company.

THE NEWSMAKER

Exercise doyen Gloria Marshall offered to buy back 165 nationwide figure salons bearing her name after weight-loss firm Nutri/Systems Inc. closed the facilities because of $8 million in losses. “A lifetime of successful efforts could disappear,” Marshall said after making the offer, which came just two years after she sold the firm to Nutri/Systems.

THE NUMBERS

SEPTEMBER 20, 1984

Dow Jones Industrial Average 1213.01

London gold $342/oz.

100 Excedrin tablets $3.59

Atari Congo Bongo game $30