A new era has begun for the Walt Disney Co. following the abrupt resignation of longtime studio chief Dick Cook.

After nearly four decades with the Burbank entertainment giant, Cook announced late Friday that he was stepping down immediately.

In a statement, Cook said, “I have been contemplating this for some time now and feel it’s the right time for me to move on to new adventures and in the words of one of my baseball heroes, Yogi Berra, ‘If you come to a fork in the road, take it.'”

Cook, 59, joined Disney in 1971 and moved up the ranks, becoming president of Buena Vista Pictures distribution in 1988. He became chairman of the studio in 2002.

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