The element of surprise. I learned that from my mentor. Marlin was- We had a system at the Lincoln Park Zoo. When the old man, as we used to call him, was on the rounds, every building would phone, the old man’s coming, he’s here. We’d have him targeted all… Read More
I believe that- I don’t believe any zoo director that’s worth his salt can operate the zoo behind a desk. I think it’s got to be, that man has to be out in the field. That again, I learned from Marlin. He was always out in the park and you… Read More
What was your relationship with the staff, the curators and how did you, did it change or how did it develop with their training, their upgrading and working with them?… Read More
I think in our area, in our zoo, the collection has always been the core, it’s our reason for being. It’s the only thing that nobody else can compete with us. I mean, we can have education programs outside the zoo. We could have gardening programs outside, we could have… Read More
How would you describe your style of directing?… Read More
If I were to explain or try to explain my style of management, I believe I was always, I was firm, but fair. I mean, people, I knew what I wanted, and I think whole trick of management is to get the people to follow you. I think if anything,… Read More
What were some of your management strategies?… Read More
Or was there a rank?… Read More
They various programs at the zoo, I think the Cincinnati Zoo is as diversified as its collection. As we went along, we began to build- We did not have when I started great community support, we needed to build on that too. We couldn’t survive without that community support, because… Read More
Yes, we were- It was just Cincinnati Zoo. It became the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. We were afforded that status as a botanical garden. We in fact went through a rather difficult process. We had a lot of our landscaping we had to label, which is now labeled. So… Read More
What were the most important factors at the zoo when you came in or as you progressed, was it the public, the animal exhibits, breeding programs, education?… Read More
How did they start to rank with you?… Read More
Was Cincinnati’s hiring of a horticulturist a first in the zoo world?… Read More
The hiring of Dave Ehrlinger, our first horticulturist, if it wasn’t a first in the zoo world, it was among the very few zoos that had a professional horticulturist on staff, and Dave was an excellent person to work with. He left the zoo after I did. I think he’s… Read More
You changed the name of the zoo, didn’t you?… Read More
And in fact, I would really challenged my architects because I didn’t want- We developed moats, but I didn’t want to see the moat. And that would have them with a model on their hands and knees measuring, but we accomplished some of that in an exhibit that we built… Read More
There was a sense of cohesiveness about the organizations and a lot of that was done through landscaping. So we made a commitment that we came back home, we put all our notes together, we made a commitment that we were gonna make the Cincinnati Zoo a botanical garden. Not… Read More
You don’t even see a building, you only see an entryway that’s landscaped. And we did that with the gorilla exhibit. We essentially covered the old lion house with stonework and outdoor caging. So eventually you began to see the loss of a lot of buildings. The zoo over a… Read More
So that was some of the major changes in the zoo, and they were the ones that were received best by our visiting public too. When I was in Melbourne, I was fascinated by the Melbourne Zoo that they had a special floral festival. So every spring now, and it’s… Read More
What were the top items that you wanted to address or enhance when you first walked in?… Read More