Well, I don’t know. (laughs) I don’t know how I handled that. I tried to stay out of it, but I couldn’t because when the zoo was first put in Brackenridge Park, the same thing occurred with the two beer distributors. One gave a land for part of Brackenridge Park… Read More
So that was a little bit of a tricky situation too. Read More
Ultimately solved?… Read More
It was solved. So we’ll leave it at that. In 1992, an animal rights group wanted members of your board to resign. Read More
And what was the relationship with Albert Biedenharn?… Read More
Albert Biedenharn was a long time board member, an excellent man, a good rancher, a great sportsman and conservationists and the head of Coca Cola. And that’s always good to have Coca Cola on the board, but so did I have Pepsi Cola’s head man on the board. And sometimes… Read More
How did you diplomatically handle that?… Read More
John John McFarlin was a good friend. He was a sort of eccentric, some people thought. I found him to be very interested and interesting. That was the first million dollar gift I ever got. And that was for the children’s zoo. And I talked to almost everyone about the… Read More
And he was worried that I was taking too long to accomplish it. And I said, “Well, John, I need a million dollars.” And he said, “You got it.” And he said, “But you don’t even have a place where you can put my name.” I said, “John, I’ll build… Read More
Were there certain go-to people that you could rely on?… Read More
There has to be go-to people on boards if you’re gonna have an active board and they’re gonna get things done. That’s what boards are for, I think. They’re the ones who can get you to the right people. Hopefully, if they leave it up to the zoo director, he’s… Read More
Specifically, what was your relation with John McFarlin or Albert Biedenharn?… Read More
Well, the board, again, as I said, they went along with a great deal of what I wanted to do. And I hope because I put it to them in such a manner that they could visualize what it was gonna look like. And when the time came for the… Read More
Did you find it hard to educate them or not really?… Read More
I didn’t have a problem with educating them really. As long as they knew that the cost was not prohibitive and the facility would be an improvement over what we add. And that was easy because what we had really was in need of a great deal of upgrade. Read More
Were there people on the board that you could go to to help you fund projects that you were trying to do?… Read More
What were some of your management strategies as you worked with your staff or with the board for getting your ideas across and directing people maybe to go in the direction you wanted them to go?… Read More
You used the board or the people– Yeah, for the people who worked for me, I think, you know, I had normally regular meetings with the zoo staff, special meetings with the curators and the assistant director and myself, and I kept them abreast of what was going to happen. Read More
What about your management kind of style or approach to the board?… Read More
What would your staff say if I asked them about your management style?… Read More