A public memorial service for longtime Denver Zoo president Clayton Freiheit will be next week at the University of Denver.
Freiheit, who ran the zoo for 37 years, died of cancer Oct. 28 at the age of 69. The service will be at 10 a.m. Nov. 16 at DU’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts, at East Iliff Avenue and South University Boulevard.
The zoo will be closed that day in honor of Freiheit. Following the public service, the family will host a private ceremony at the zoo.
The family said Freiheit asked that, in lieu of flowers or other gifts, donors make a contribution to the zoo in support of building Asian Tropics, a planned 10-acre exhibit of Asian animals. Any donations will be matched by zoo improvement bonds, which Denver voters passed in 1999.
The zoo also announced that the half-acre indoor elephant quarters will be renamed the Clayton F. Freiheit Elephant House.
Donations may be mailed to Denver Zoological Foundation, 2300 Steele St., Denver, CO 80205, attention Development Director, or made online at .
Mike McPhee, The Denver Post
