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Metroparks Zoo director Steve Taylor retiring, leaves rich legacy
by James Ewinger, The Plain Dealer
Steve Taylor, who led the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo into the 21st Century and the top tier of American zoos, confirmed Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the year as zoo director.
This means the zoo will have lost its top two managers inside of a year.
"What Steve provided, really, was a true renaissance at the zoo," said Brian Zimmerman, executive director of the Metroparks.
Taylor, 65, came to Cleveland in 1989 – when both the zoo and the parent park system were wracked with scandal and mismanagement.
The Rain Forest exhibit project that he inherited was soaring over budget and poorly designed.
It fell to Taylor, Metroparks Commissioner Fred Rzepka, and Metroparks executive director Vern Hartenburg to get it on track, and they did.
Taylor's legacy includes the Wolf Wilderness, Australian Adventure, the Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine, and the African Elephant Crossing, which opened last year.
The new elephant crossing, developed under Taylor's leadership, was a radical departure from the exhibit it replaced, and not merely because of its greater size.
It includes provisions for protected contact between keepers and their mammoth charges, reducing the possibilities for serious injury. It is better for human and pachyderm alike.
"I like the fact that elephants aren't even yelled at anymore," Taylor said. "They get to be elephants."
Taylor's imminent retirement is the second major loss for the zoo this year.
Geoffrey Hall, 42, the general curator, left last month to become the assistant director and chief operating officer at the Kansas City Zoo. He was considered by many to be Taylor's likely successor.
Zimmerman said Tuesday that "Steve raised the bar for the zoo and the expectations of zoo patrons."
He said the next director will have to have similar qualities and be prepared to lead it to its 150th anniversary.
The zoo is 130 this year – the seventh oldest in the country, Zimmerman said.
Whoever follows will have the benefit of a 10-year master plan that Taylor, zoo personnel and their consultants spent over a year crafting. It includes a new vision for the zoo's main entry that would be more welcoming and, at the same time, make better use of the space.
The challenge is that there are only a few zoos in the country that are big enough to be true tourist destinations.
This zoo, like most others, draws 80 to 85 percent of its visitors from Northeast Ohio, Taylor said, and needs to remain fresh and innovative enough to keep them coming back.
He began his career about 40 years ago at the Los Angeles Zoo, and was director of the Sacramento Zoo before coming here.
Taylor, a California native, will stay in the area. His wife, Sarah, is an Ohioan and will continue to work as controller for the Cleveland Indians.
His post-retirement plans include hiking, biking, golfing, birding, traveling and seeing as many zoos as possible.
Taylor and Mark Reed, director of Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan., have a running competition to see who can visit the most zoos that belong to the prestigious Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The winner is the one who retires with the most. "There are 224 AZA accredited zoos and I have 212," Taylor said. He believes Reed has around 200, "but he has plans."
And Taylor still has six months to tie up the remaining dozen.
Metroparks Zoo director Steve Taylor retiring, leaves rich legacy | cleveland.com
by James Ewinger, The Plain Dealer
Steve Taylor, who led the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo into the 21st Century and the top tier of American zoos, confirmed Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the year as zoo director.
This means the zoo will have lost its top two managers inside of a year.
"What Steve provided, really, was a true renaissance at the zoo," said Brian Zimmerman, executive director of the Metroparks.
Taylor, 65, came to Cleveland in 1989 – when both the zoo and the parent park system were wracked with scandal and mismanagement.
The Rain Forest exhibit project that he inherited was soaring over budget and poorly designed.
It fell to Taylor, Metroparks Commissioner Fred Rzepka, and Metroparks executive director Vern Hartenburg to get it on track, and they did.
Taylor's legacy includes the Wolf Wilderness, Australian Adventure, the Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine, and the African Elephant Crossing, which opened last year.
The new elephant crossing, developed under Taylor's leadership, was a radical departure from the exhibit it replaced, and not merely because of its greater size.
It includes provisions for protected contact between keepers and their mammoth charges, reducing the possibilities for serious injury. It is better for human and pachyderm alike.
"I like the fact that elephants aren't even yelled at anymore," Taylor said. "They get to be elephants."
Taylor's imminent retirement is the second major loss for the zoo this year.
Geoffrey Hall, 42, the general curator, left last month to become the assistant director and chief operating officer at the Kansas City Zoo. He was considered by many to be Taylor's likely successor.
Zimmerman said Tuesday that "Steve raised the bar for the zoo and the expectations of zoo patrons."
He said the next director will have to have similar qualities and be prepared to lead it to its 150th anniversary.
The zoo is 130 this year – the seventh oldest in the country, Zimmerman said.
Whoever follows will have the benefit of a 10-year master plan that Taylor, zoo personnel and their consultants spent over a year crafting. It includes a new vision for the zoo's main entry that would be more welcoming and, at the same time, make better use of the space.
The challenge is that there are only a few zoos in the country that are big enough to be true tourist destinations.
This zoo, like most others, draws 80 to 85 percent of its visitors from Northeast Ohio, Taylor said, and needs to remain fresh and innovative enough to keep them coming back.
He began his career about 40 years ago at the Los Angeles Zoo, and was director of the Sacramento Zoo before coming here.
Taylor, a California native, will stay in the area. His wife, Sarah, is an Ohioan and will continue to work as controller for the Cleveland Indians.
His post-retirement plans include hiking, biking, golfing, birding, traveling and seeing as many zoos as possible.
Taylor and Mark Reed, director of Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan., have a running competition to see who can visit the most zoos that belong to the prestigious Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The winner is the one who retires with the most. "There are 224 AZA accredited zoos and I have 212," Taylor said. He believes Reed has around 200, "but he has plans."
And Taylor still has six months to tie up the remaining dozen.
Metroparks Zoo director Steve Taylor retiring, leaves rich legacy | cleveland.com
