Yeah, they knew me, I’d been in curator positions before, but now I’m their boss. I had budget issues at the zoo that were like, I didn’t put this budget together, I inherited this budget, but all of a sudden I’m the one that’s getting called in by the CFO… Read More
Nothing overnight. Now, there’s one person in this whole process that was key to my success at San Diego, and that was Tom Schultz, the guy that stepped aside. Tom could have made my life very difficult by continuing to make decisions and undermining me. And he was great about… Read More
He goes, it’s been six months. I said yeah. Read More
I was getting challenged by staff at the zoo, like, who’s this guy, you know?… Read More
Tom Schultz. He just wanted to be reptile curator. He didn’t want the general curator thing at all. So when Jim appointed me, I said, Jim, what I’d like is you gimme six months. If I like it in six months, then I’ll continue on. And if you like what… Read More
And so I had worked at the San Diego Zoo, right?… Read More
But I was a groundskeeper last time I was at the San Diego Zoo. Now, I knew everybody down there, I knew everybody, but I wasn’t their boss. And the gentleman that was the general curator at the zoo was ready to give it up. He just wanted to go… Read More
Who was it?… Read More
What were those responsibilities as general curator?… Read More
General curator. That was an interesting move because again, the collection at the wild animal park was growing. And Jim wanted to have some consistent management between the zoo and the wild animal park. And so he put me in the general curator role for the wild animal park to… Read More
He had me down at the San Diego Zoo in the master plan for the zoo, which at first I wondered why am I here for San Diego Zoo master planning?… Read More
But I’m so glad I was involved in that because it gave me the knowledge to know how to master plan, which today I love, I love master planning. It’s one of my favorite things to do. But again, it was all a learning process. Dr. Dolan was great about… Read More
When did that happen?… Read More
There was no curator of mammals. I was the first for the wild animal part, I don’t remember the exact year, but it had to be in the early eighties. There was no mammal curator. And Dr. Dolan put me into that position. So now it is not only collection… Read More
Your next step was curator of mammals. Read More
What were then your responsibilities and who left the position that you became the curator of mammals?… Read More
It was also testing me, you know, are you curatorial material?… Read More
So when did you become then curator?… Read More
Dr. Dolan was very clear. When another individual and I moved into those positions, there were two of us, he sat us down. He said, you know, I just want you to know right off the bat, I’m a one man show. And we went, oh, okay. So I guess… Read More
I don’t remember the exact year, but it had to be somewhere in the mid to late seventies. And again, this was another bump up, taking me completely out of being a keeper and giving me more curatorial responsibilities. ‘Cause Jim, Dr. Dolan was traveling a lot, not around. There… Read More