The first time I went to the house to see it before I brought Phyllis and the kids down to San Antonio, I walked in and the whole dining room was a bird cage. He had built a bird cage in the middle of the house. And I thought, Phyllis… Read More
And I found that I got so much done that I would not have done if it were an eight to five kind of job. I would go out after I’d close up my office and just walk through the zoo. And because the zoo stayed open much later, I… Read More
So just a quick question, going back to the house, part of the job was they said, we’re gonna give you a place to stay with your family. Read More
Did you know him?… Read More
had you had conversations with him or?… Read More
I knew Fred Stark because I’ve visited with him at conferences. He knew I was also bird curator in Columbus, and we had corresponded in those days. Fred was not a person who corresponded much with his friends, but he did. Everybody knew Fred when it came to thinking in… Read More
So you got to give them your vision and they bought into it?… Read More
Yes, exactly right. They bought into what I was saying the zoo needed and that’s the way I worked with them for almost all of the years I was there. Read More
Had you had conversations, now, when you came there, Fred Stark had already passed away, correct?… Read More
Yes. Fred had passed away. Read More
No, I didn’t have any board member that came in and said, this is the way we want it. Read More
And that’s the, how many people can say that?… Read More
Not very many, I don’t think. And it was a wonderful way for me to start, because I knew what I had to do. And of course they agreed with that and I was very pleased that they did. Read More
My relationship with the chairman and the executive committee was always very good. In the early days, the chairman of the committee before I arrived, was very demanding. He would send out telegrams to people when he wanted them to come to a meeting. And the meeting was always about… Read More
They’d walk through the zoo in the evening. And I highlighted all the exhibits and this was all black tie and very, very formal. We hired nationally known bands and things of that sort. And it still continues even today. Read More
When you first started, did the board give you any charges?… Read More
Like here’s what we would like you to do?… Read More
Can you imagine having 84 bosses?… Read More
But of that 84, 15 member executive committee that really operates the zoo with the staff, but they are very free and easy to get along with, always has been. They liked what I was proposing and what I was doing. And that continued, believe it or not for all… Read More
What was your relationship with the chairman?… Read More