It’s been a great thing for the aquarium. Great thing for the city. There were others who, as I said, were lukewarm, you’re never gonna raise the money. We can’t do this. And then after it was a fair complete sort of stuck their fingers in their lapels and said,… Read More
I think the last one they had was something like $67 million and they accomplished that. And now I think we’re on our third one. You spoke about the oceanarium. Read More
How did you develop this vision for the oceanarium?… Read More
Well, I felt that the aquarium really…… Read More
Bill, the oceanarium must’ve been a wonderful and was a wonderful exhibit. Read More
How did the board feel about the exhibit?… Read More
I think there were a majority of the board, majority of the members of the board were enthusiastic about it. There were some that were lukewarm, not because they didn’t like the idea of the oceanarium. They were tentative because they didn’t think we could raise the money. And then… Read More
I think it was difficult to secure corporate money, foundation money, private money, but they worked on it, and they got… Actually, we raised more money, maybe by about a million or $2 million, than our goal was. We had Delco Corporation that gave us a sizable donation. I’m sorry,… Read More
Were there any surprise donations that came out of the blue?… Read More
People’s estates or something that… There were Mark, but I honestly cannot remember any surprise donation. We did have one, it was a woman doctor. I think her name was Gustafson, who had gone on one of our aquarium tours, a trip to the Galápagos. And after she went on… Read More
Well, yes, because we had a deal with the Park District at that time, as did Field Museum, as did Science and industry and the other institutions on Park District property, that they would duplicate what we had. We had programs set aside. I wanted to build a penguin exhibit… Read More
And so I think maybe that was some, as you call it, some political process there, but that had already been decided before we went onto the major fundraising. Read More
Was it difficult to secure corporate money?… Read More
What do you think?… Read More
Is this gonna be a good attraction in Chicago?” We talked about it for a minute. And (indistinct) came over, and again, I emphasized to Arnie. I said, “I’m not here to raise money.” (indistinct) came over and says, “Excuse me, Mr. Martin.” He says, “The governor, Jim Thompson, “is… Read More
And that chance meeting, I couldn’t have planned the day any better. Got $5 million. So that along with the Rise Foundation, 3 million and what I’d stuck away into my back pocket at the aquarium, we went ahead with it, and I don’t think we would have done it… Read More
Did you continue to use the political process to look for funding?… Read More
And we had a nice little lunch and they showed me around their office, which was in the old Montgomery Ward Mail Order Building over on the near west side. And then I had sketches that the architects had made, and I said, “This is what we’re thinking of.” And… Read More
You remember Bob Collins and his big orange?… Read More
And I went over to Arnie’s and went upstairs. And Arnie’s came over and said, you just sit down, have a cup of coffee, I’ll be with him in five minutes, which he did. And I told him what we’re thinking about. And I said, “I’ve got some sketches here. Read More