San Antonio at one time was the only zoo in the world that had a whooping crane. And when I came, Fred had already had a pair of them, Fred Stark, and not only had the pair, but because one of them couldn’t fly, that’s why we got it. He… Read More
That’s typical I think of all zoos and what they’re going through today and it’s probably worse today than it was then. I had the International Zoo Association in San Antonio and they picketed the meetings hotel and the meeting rooms because they were against zoos. And this was their… Read More
So did you ever have the opportunity or did you feel the need to speak with them, talk with them?… Read More
Did you have interaction with them at all on a discussion level, as opposed to them picketing the zoo?… Read More
I had discussions with them, but it was always private discussion. I didn’t have any incidents where they stood out in front of the zoo, demanding the zoo director to come out and talk with them. I can’t remember that that ever happened, but some of them were former employees… Read More
In 1992, did you have anything where animal rights people or groups were asking for resignations of your board in relation to any, did you ever have any, let me back up, did you ever have any problems at San Antonio with the animal rights people?… Read More
Well, we didn’t have a lot of problems with them, but on occasion when they were having a big membership drive, we did. Read More
They always used the zoo as the culprit, you know?… Read More
Can you tell us what happened and what was the outcome?… Read More
A member of my board?… Read More
Say it again. Read More
Well, I don’t know. (laughs) I don’t know how I handled that. I tried to stay out of it, but I couldn’t because when the zoo was first put in Brackenridge Park, the same thing occurred with the two beer distributors. One gave a land for part of Brackenridge Park… Read More
So that was a little bit of a tricky situation too. Read More
Ultimately solved?… Read More
It was solved. So we’ll leave it at that. In 1992, an animal rights group wanted members of your board to resign. Read More
And what was the relationship with Albert Biedenharn?… Read More
Albert Biedenharn was a long time board member, an excellent man, a good rancher, a great sportsman and conservationists and the head of Coca Cola. And that’s always good to have Coca Cola on the board, but so did I have Pepsi Cola’s head man on the board. And sometimes… Read More
How did you diplomatically handle that?… Read More
John John McFarlin was a good friend. He was a sort of eccentric, some people thought. I found him to be very interested and interesting. That was the first million dollar gift I ever got. And that was for the children’s zoo. And I talked to almost everyone about the… Read More
And he was worried that I was taking too long to accomplish it. And I said, “Well, John, I need a million dollars.” And he said, “You got it.” And he said, “But you don’t even have a place where you can put my name.” I said, “John, I’ll build… Read More