Les Fisher’s management style was pretty much what Les Fisher’s life has always been, easygoing, friendly, outgoing, everybody’s buddy, don’t make waves under any circumstances, do whatever needs to be done, but do it in a politically correct way. His number two, Jean Harts, was essentially in charge of the… Read More
The strategy developed because I learned, after I ran into the wall two or three times, that the only thing I was gonna do accomplish was to bruise myself. And so I worked with what I had. You have to remember that during this era, a significant number of the… Read More
So to try to implement any kind of written guidelines or instructions for whole areas of the zoo, whether it would be bird, mammal or reptile, just wasn’t gonna work because they couldn’t read, or they were incapable of understanding what was going on. Read More
You talked about your management style then, what was the director’s management style and what was your immediate boss’s style?… Read More
What form did that resistance?… Read More
What was that form of resistance?… Read More
Yeah, the resistance was sometimes it was subtle. Sometimes it was overt. Sometimes it was direct in your face. Sometimes it wasn’t doing things that should have been done just to see what kind of arise they could get out of me. The senior keeper in charge of the zoo… Read More
That strategy kind of developed, or you kind of had that as you were going in?… Read More
You’d had experience of going to Rochester Zoo, but what kind of zoo did you find at Lincoln Park when you started?… Read More
The zoo at Lincoln Park, when I started was largely a reflection of WPA days, some leftover conservation core work, the collection was a very good collection. There were animals there that I had never seen before. I had a lot of book learning, but I didn’t have a lot… Read More
All mammals?… Read More
My responsibilities essentially, were learn the mammal collection, help where help is needed supervise on a day-to-day basis the entire mammal collection, focus on the children’s zoo and the nursery, because that area needed almost constant attention because of the number of infant animals that were being hand-raised in the… Read More
What kind of zoo did you find?… Read More
There was a zoologist in charge of reptiles, and that was Eddie (indistinct). There was a zoologist in charge of birds, and that was Jim Mizaur. So that left me with the zoologist in charge of mammals or whatever else needed to be done. So your direct boss was the… Read More
Yes, that my direct boss was the general curator who was a, how should I put this?… Read More
A gentleman nearing retirement who always had done things his own way, and you were expected to do things the same way. Read More
Did you have specific responsibilities given you, or was just you’re in charge of the mammals, period?… Read More
Dr. Goss followed up and called several weeks later and said, “I’d really like you to come out here.” We had made the move to Chicago and he said, “Oh, I’m so sorry, it took me so long, but it just took this long. Good for Les, you’ll enjoy working… Read More
As, what was your title, what did they hire you as?… Read More
My title in 1967 was zoologist. My office was in the West end of the Lion House. I was issued four used uniforms. And I was told what my schedule was, which was essentially work three out of four weekends, and have as your days off, when you don’t have… Read More