Denver Zoo president and chief executive Clayton Freiheit, 69, who died Oct. 28, will be remembered for a self-confidence that bordered on arrogance, a sharp wit, a love of animals and a willingness to mentor colleagues, said Craig Piper, the Denver Zoo’s executive vice president, at a memorial service for Freiheit today.
Before he died of cancer, Freiheit, who headed the zoo for 37 years, agreed that a memorial service after his death would be appropriate, Piper said. But the man who loved to “hold court” in a bar or pub would want remarks to be brief, no fanfare and nothing maudlin, Piper said.
Freiheit’s colleagues and friends delivered a service leavened with humorous anecdotes and mostly dry-eyed tributes.
“I thought this is one opinionated grouch,” Bruce Wagner, Denver Zoological Foundation Board chairman, said of his first few meetings with Freiheit.
But after working with him for a while, he said he realized the director was a wonderful guy with a great sense of humor and a passion for animals and zoos.
As a child growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., Freiheit was smitten by animals and became a noted collector of reptiles and other creatures. He drew detailed pictures of animals in zoo and circus settings.
When he was 22, he became curator of the Buffalo Zoo — the youngest zoo director in the nation — and 10 years later, in 1970, took the helm in Denver.
During his tenure, the Denver Zoo became the city’s top cultural attraction, with an annual attendance of about 1.6 million visitors, and the favored institution behind the passage of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, which gave it stable funding.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
