Is this gonna be a good attraction in Chicago?” We talked about it for a minute. And (indistinct) came over, and again, I emphasized to Arnie. I said, “I’m not here to raise money.” (indistinct) came over and says, “Excuse me, Mr. Martin.” He says, “The governor, Jim Thompson, “is… Read More
And that chance meeting, I couldn’t have planned the day any better. Got $5 million. So that along with the Rise Foundation, 3 million and what I’d stuck away into my back pocket at the aquarium, we went ahead with it, and I don’t think we would have done it… Read More
Did you continue to use the political process to look for funding?… Read More
And we had a nice little lunch and they showed me around their office, which was in the old Montgomery Ward Mail Order Building over on the near west side. And then I had sketches that the architects had made, and I said, “This is what we’re thinking of.” And… Read More
You remember Bob Collins and his big orange?… Read More
And I went over to Arnie’s and went upstairs. And Arnie’s came over and said, you just sit down, have a cup of coffee, I’ll be with him in five minutes, which he did. And I told him what we’re thinking about. And I said, “I’ve got some sketches here. Read More
And they had hired Lohan’s Company, it was at those days called FCL, Fujikawa, Conterato, Lohan as architects. And they would go ahead a little bit, and then the board would say, “Wait a minute. “We don’t know if we can raise this money or not.” And then they’d tell… Read More
So he got me in to go over and I had lunch with Mickey Kupperman, who was the president and maybe his vice-president?… Read More
And the other big amount I got was from the State, and the Shedd board had been vacillating back and forth, back and forth. Read More
Should we do it, shouldn’t we do it?… Read More
Should we do it, shouldn’t we do it?… Read More
When you were fundraising, how well did you adjust to that responsibility of the director fundraise, were you called upon to do that?… Read More
Yeah, I was, I had to be part of it and all that. All directors participate in fundraising. So yes, I did. I did get into it, and very, fortunately, I think I was paramount and again, I don’t wanna sound like I am patting myself on the back, but… Read More
I don’t know the details, and they couldn’t give the money away, so the money kept building up. And then finally the IRS had told them they’ve got to get rid of some of this money. So Art’s names stayed in my mind, and I got a hold of him,… Read More
Overflow?… Read More
That was completely different than the fillers. It did overflow. We had a bunch of old-time engineers who did their job. They grease the Zerk fittings and they did those menial jobs. But the new computerized tank was just too much for them. And one night, I guess they went… Read More
But years later, the marble flooring around the coral reef and the rotunda started coming loose. And that seawater had gotten down in between there and broke up all the mortar underneath. So we had to take up the entire marble floor and replace it. So that came back to… Read More
So that we were gonna buy these filters from a company, I hope they’re not listening because they might come back in to sue us. I think it was out in Oregon. And I said we can build those things ourselves. We can go to Chicago tank, Chicago bridge and… Read More
You were able to keep the water in there all the time, never overflow?… Read More
Oh, well. Read More