Well, I followed in that- My zoo career started by me following an ad in the Chicago Sun-Times. There was an ad in the paper, there was a job open if you were not too choosy, and it was a job opening at the reptile house at the Lincoln Park… Read More
What were the early days like at Lincoln Park Zoo as a young keeper?… Read More
Well, they were fun days. We had a good time, it was a good crew to work with. They weren’t all animal people. In fact, a lot of more political appointees, and obviously the animal people were the people that gathered together, and there was like two sections of the… Read More
Now we’ve talked about education. Read More
You’ve also been given a number of honorary degrees?… Read More
Yes, in Cincinnati, I was given a degree, an honorary degree by the University of Cincinnati and one that I treasure by Xavier University, and they don’t give out very many. I was told that this was indeed a great honor. The Jesuits don’t release those willy-nilly. Read More
I just keep going, huh?… Read More
You’ll edit out, I presume?… Read More
Well, it really started when I had to finish Wright because I was heading for another city, and then this is when I was invited to join another zoo in Cincinnati. But I started my zoo career really in Lincoln Park. My first introduction to Marlin Perkins was as a… Read More
What zoos did you see when you were growing up?… Read More
I really began, my career has almost been a inherited interest in any aspect of natural history. My aunt related a story to me about taking me to the Brookfield Zoo when I was seven years old and she couldn’t get me out of the place. And I remember later… Read More
Well, what was your schooling?… Read More
Well, I really, I started out- I started out in, in Chicago and I had to quit school at an early age, but I went back to school nights. It was some family problems and I had to leave high school. But later on, when I got married, I went… Read More
My name is Ed Maruska. I’m the Director Emeritus of Cincinnati Zoo. I was born in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. Read More
Was there any other recollections that you might’ve had about the assistant director, Saul Kitchener, that you worked with as a colleague?… Read More
Saul was a, Saul was, I think we characterized him as a man who was always in motion. He had a hard time sitting still. He was somebody who was always looking ahead, thinking ahead, looking for new opportunities, looking to share knowledge, looking to share contacts. And the zoo… Read More
I don’t think there was any one of us, any one of us who was involved in that original importation, who didn’t say, why are we sending these animals to Europe?… Read More
Why aren’t these animals in our collection?… Read More
And we subsequently through the curatorial staff developed one of the most impressive spectral bear collections that has ever happened in North America. All of these things involve people. You’ve talked about some of the people. Read More
Yes, absolutely, absolutely and that was that versus the first case was an inside job, as opposed to strangers who thought it was a good idea to go to the zoo, to get these two young or infant animals for whatever purpose. In the case of the chimpanzee, it was,… Read More