Interview 11689 – Caption Index: 32
How much freedom did you have in this position?… Read More
How much freedom did you have in this position?… Read More
I had a tremendous amount of freedom. I was amazed how much that Louis allowed me to take on. Basically, I think because I kept him well informed on what was going on, I think he saw the passion in me to always try to make the zoo look better,… Read More
The original starting title was zoologist. And it was, I mean, during my five years there, I was also put in charge over the horticulture department. I liaison with the maintenance department. I spent a year doing some major overhaul, spent $40,000 on overhauling the aquarium and air handling systems… Read More
And yeah, we’d talk for five, 10, 15 minutes. Louis was one of those guys that got out in the zoo every morning doing a walkthrough and every afternoon for a few minutes somewhere, he knew the zoo. And you could also tell in the afternoon walks, you could tell… Read More
How did the staff, and I’m sure they knew where you came from, but how did the staff react to this new kid with limited experience being third in line?… Read More
I had a good working relationship with him. He learned a lot from those gorillas at Columbus, Ohio. I mean, he had those penetrating eye and you could see that quiver in his job when he’d get upset on things. But I can say that I really enjoyed my time. Read More
Is the title general curator or is the title zoologist?… Read More
So when you worked for Louis DiSabato, who was director, what was your relationship with him?… Read More
Did you learn from him, was he a mentor?… Read More
Was he a hard task master?… Read More
Or because you were the son of the former director. You know, we rarely touched on the son of former director. I had a great relationship with Louis I think. I discovered that over time, I’d stop by near the end of the day and we’d visit for 10 to… Read More
And looking around, it was just in its stages of professional development under Louis DiSabato. And I went in and had a discussion with him actually my last day on the job. And he told me about this land that had been donated to the zoo to develop possibly a… Read More
What are the things that have to be considered and how would you go about doing it and what to learn from places that had already done it?… Read More
So I did a general problems analysis. I actually had some other graduate students do a vegetation analysis, a soil survey. So used a lot of resources, but in the end, Louis DiSabato ended up being on my board, my thesis board, and basically helped me get a full-time job. Read More
And some people might think it’s because of who your father knew. And it actually was. It was interesting. I found out a month before I graduated that I was going to graduate. I had forgotten some hours I had earned at a marine biology course I took down in… Read More
After that, I was on my own. He got on the phone and he’s talking to some guy named Clayton who I don’t know where or who. And it was real clear early in the conversation that Clayton didn’t have part-time summer jobs. And then he called some guy named… Read More
I had a garage apartment two blocks from the zoo. I could lay in the Murphy bed and touch three out of the four walls and put my foot in the bathroom and had a Triumph Motorcycle and thought I was king of the world. And I worked in what… Read More
The head of the department knew the zoo world, knew the personalities because of the combined National Park and Recreation Association, the AAZPA within a division, so he knew who all the players were. And it had other zoo people that had gone to the program there, George Bidel Jr. Read More
And how did you get, what kind of job did you get at the San Antonio Zoo?… Read More
That was 1972 I believe to 1973. Read More