Interview 9078 – Caption Index: 161
What are its strengths now?… Read More
What are its strengths now?… Read More
I think it has probably, and I guess maybe I’m maybe bragging a little bit. I think it is the outstanding aquarium, if not in the United States, in the world. I think it has brought a tremendous improvement, not only to the institution but to the City of Chicago. Read More
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the aquarium when you took over and when you left?… Read More
Strengthen and weaknesses?… Read More
Quite frankly, when I joined, I don’t think that the aquarium had strengths. I don’t think people looked at the aquarium as being a viable institution. It was just sitting there. And part of it was not the aquarium’s fault. It was a group of things that happened all at… Read More
(laughs) Day by day, I think the biggest problem, the head of any institution has is personnel. There is just no end of little nit-picky things that go on in your, that’s how I lost my hair, I was worried about that sort of thing. You get so frustrated dealing… Read More
I said, no, you can’t do that. You’d have everybody in the aquarium in there. So, I think that’s my biggest headache was… And then the next biggest headache, which didn’t last as long, was the animal activists. I mean, that really was a big, big pain for me, but… Read More
And that was a big headache. Fundraising, I think, was a big headache. Originally getting your board to accept the fact that if you want to improve and continue to be first-class as an institution, you’ve got to go out and raise funds. You just can’t sit there and vegetate… Read More
You’ve got the tropical dolphins. So we hammered it out, and we made that gentleman’s agreement if you will about it. But there’s no reason that there should be any animosity between the institutions. I mean, I don’t think there is between Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo. You have… Read More
Did you compete for funds from individuals?… Read More
No, you know that’s funny thing, and I’ve thought about that for years, that Lincoln Park has its cadre of supporters. Brookfield Zoo has its cadre of supporters, and Shedd Aquarium has theirs, and I saw very little left, any overlap. Any time there was a ball or a fundraising… Read More
As director, what were the frustrating times?… Read More
What was your relationship?… Read More
Well, I think we had a good relationship with both institutions. There were a couple of maybe a little touchy things that we solved. Brookfield Zoo had put in here’s back their dolphin exhibit, Seven Seas Panorama, and that was torn down and the new dolphin thing. And when we… Read More
He certainly taught me a lot about fundraising, development. And I think he still works part-time, giving advice to the San Diego Zoo, Murray Newman, should I say I stole some ideas from him, his outdoor exhibit for killer whales. Our architects one up there to look at the outdoor… Read More
Was there a communication between the two of you or the groups?… Read More
Are you jealous of one another?… Read More
It probably cleaner than a hospital. And so well designed and laid out. He did a wonderful job there. And your time as director, you’ve met so many people, some I presume famous people. Read More
Did anybody make a big impression on you and did they ever have an impact on the Shedd?… Read More
Well, they certainly had a big impact on me. I might say proud to have these people be my friends and my colleagues. I think Charlie Schroeder, even though he’s just a Zoo man. I thought Charlie was director of the San Diego Zoo. He was just a wonderful, wonderful… Read More