Well, I think, as I talked, Dennis Merritt, who was curator and I was at the zoo, later became assistant director, his philosophy of science, but his philosophy of publishing stood me in good stead. And I think, instead, a lot of people. Pat Sass, the person at the Children’s Zoo who taught me the rudimentary things about working with animals was a mentor. One of my bigger mentors was Eddie Almandarz, the curator of reptiles who in the very beginning, one of the life lessons he taught me, he said, “Listen, you’re gonna meet a lot of people,” and this applies to any curator, anybody, “a lot of people and they’re gonna say, ‘So and so’s a bum.” You judge that on your own. Don’t worry about that Fred said Joe’s a bum. You judge it. Don’t go into it going, “Oh, this guy is a bum. ’cause Fred said.” No, you judge that person. He could be entirely different to you than he was to the other person.
