I think there were some significant mentors for me during this time. In tropical America, Dr. Nick Gale, was a very strong influence on my life. He was a DVM, PhD, doctor of public health, he was a civilian employee in the United States Army in the area of the former canal zone. Many trips were made to Panama while I was curator and general curator, largely because I was undertaking my master’s work. And my master’s topic was the two-toed sloth. And so I went to Panama to study sloths in the wild. All of the colleagues that I had met along the way, Clayton Freiheit, Danny McClowsky, Jim Dolan, Larry Kilmer. I mean too many people, too many people to name, all had influence on me and on my decisions and on my growth in the profession.
