Interview 4973 – Caption Index: 414
So we got them passed, but it is difficult. You mentioned a zoo director has to wear many hats. Read More
So we got them passed, but it is difficult. You mentioned a zoo director has to wear many hats. Read More
And a marketing firm worked very well. For example, I went into a donor and personally, I would have never asked, I asked for certain amounts, I would have never gone over that. Read More
And this gal says, no, you’re gonna ask for a million and a half, I said, what?… Read More
They’ll kick me out, throw me out. I asked for a million and a half and I got a million. So she said right there, she more than paid her way. She brought us in an extra half a million dollars. So they were quite instrumental. They knew the community,… Read More
Was it hard to sell, when you talk about funding, was it hard to sell the public on funding for sewer renovation, underground renovations that had nothing to do with animal exhibits?… Read More
I had media, I had television, everything. I thought that was again, the end of a promising career, but it worked out. Eventually I survived it. The board supported me, and that was important. Read More
When you talk about the board and fundraising, what were your major fundraisers for bringing money into the organization?… Read More
Our fundraising, we started out our initial fundraising back in the 70s using key board people that were movers and shakers. Bill Williams, who was one of the former owners of the Cincinnati Reds, Southern Insurance Company and Oliver Gail, and they would go out and they would find a… Read More
Yeah, it was a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, successful venture or promotion. Read More
Were there certain things you didn’t want the press involved in?… Read More
You mentioned moving animals. Yes. I had an early an early experience as a neophyte zoo director. I think it was my first month on board. I probably wouldn’t have done it if I was curator, but as zoo director, I thought oh boy, this’ll make great press and show… Read More
So that was a marvelous success. And then we had, we had supervision by some of the San Diego people they would allow us, we’d have donors for $1000 be able to hold a koala, $1000 a hold, and boy, they were lined up. Read More
Really?… Read More
Both newspapers at the time, we had two newspapers and it was front page, big front page spread. Read More
Did you plan events around the press?… Read More
Yes, absolutely. And in fact, when we had certain things that we wanted to do, we’d have a press release, we’d invite the press in and I or somebody from the board would speak if it was dealing with a political issue or if it was dealing with some animal… Read More
Politics, we really- As a preface society, we had very little pressure from the politicians, but of course, when we went to pass a levy and we started getting county tax dollars, we then started to feel some, ’cause politicians started getting pressure. So we had to provide certain free… Read More
Most of the employees were city employees. But it was a good place to work because you had enough layers of people to do the grunt work, and I didn’t have to bother with a lot of the nitty-gritty that I did in Cincinnati. Cincinnati I had to watch the… Read More
What kind of presence did you have in the media?… Read More
I had a good- The bear accident changed things, but until the bear accident, I had a pretty good rapport with the politicals, with the newspapers, the media. And the bear accident, I got a couple people on my case and eventually, you know, these things worked out, but for… Read More