MAY 27 • 2021 | 17

something to help,
” Kagan
recalled. “During those first 10
days, it looked like Israel was
about to be pushed into the
Mediterranean. So, the idea
of waiting until next summer
seemed ridiculous to me.
”
Kagan remembers the image
of the darkened runway upon
his arrival in Tel Aviv, a black-
out to prevent the airstrip from
being a nighttime bombing tar-
get. A long way from a college
campus, Kagan said, “I didn’t
fully appreciate what I was
doing.
”
Within hours of his arriv-
al, word had spread that an
American had arrived who
was a “zoologist.” A bit of a
premature promotion for the
college senior, but a strange
twist of fate that would inter-
sect his dedication to his fami-
ly’s history with his passion for
animals.
By the first morning in Israel,
“they’
d already whisked me off to
go to Jerusalem to go take care of
animals at the zoo,
” now known
as the Tisch Family Zoological
Garden. The battlefield action he
had anticipated was put on hold
— for about a year.
After several months of care-
taking, he returned to Amherst
to complete his studies. But
Kagan was far from finished
with his pledge to help Israel.

YOU’RE IN THE
ARMY NOW
Only a week after his grad-
uation from Amherst with a
bachelor’s in zoology, Kagan
returned to Israel to serve 18
months on active duty. He was
in the armored corps stationed
at the Golan Heights and
went to commander school.
He remained as a reservist for
another eight years.
By the end of his decades-

long stay in Israel, Kagan
earned a master’s in zoology at
the University of Jerusalem, got
married and had two children.
Often when he got the urge
to come home, a visit to Yad
Vashem would pull at his heart-
strings and delay his return.
Eventually, Kagan had his
American homecoming in
1985, taking over the role of
general curator at the Dallas
Zoo until he ventured north in
1992 to assume the leadership
of the Detroit Zoo.

STEPPING DOWN,
NOT STOPPING
When his final day at the
Detroit Zoo comes, Kagan will
continue to lead an interna-
tional team that is developing
a new code of ethics for the
World Association of Zoos and
Aquariums. He also has ten-
tatively agreed to doing some
guest lecturing. Kagan noted
that his paternal grandfather
didn’t retire until age 102 and
lived until age 109.
However, before he becomes
too busy, he says he’ll also “fol-
low the advice of some very
wise friends who keep telling
me ‘don’t make any commit-
ments for a few months. Just let
yourself be free.
’”
He likened it to taking a
year off after college before
entering the workforce. If
things get too slow, you might
find Kagan pursuing another
of his passions — competing
in Lotus Formula car racing in
England.
Kagan will also make up time
for what COVID has curtailed
— out-of-town visits with his
mother, 94, and father, 95, and,
of course, catching up with his
children: a daughter and son
who work for the CDC and
Tesla respectively.

IT TAKES A ZOO VILLAGE
During my two encounters
with Ron Kagan, first for the
photo shoot for this story, fol-
lowed by my nearly hourlong
interview with him, it was
quite evident that he would
rather deflect the attention
from himself and instead focus
on his dedicated zoo staff —
and zoo supporters.
“It’s an incredible group of
people,” Kagan said. “The ani-

mal care staff, the veterinary
team, our amazing board,
committee members and our
invaluable volunteer corps
are so amazing. To a person,
everyone who contributes
here is so unbelievably mis-
sion-driven.”
He also has fond parting
words for the Detroit com-
munity and civic leaders who
helped save the zoo from eco-
nomic ruin.
“I love this community,
especially for what it has done
over the decades, including
long before I came here,
to create such a phenome-

nal sanctuary for animals
and people. It’s just been an
incredible honor to be able to
be a part of the continuation
of that.”
My interview with Kagan
left me with many fascinating
anecdotes about his career,
but there is one word picture
I won’t soon forget. When I
asked him to share what he
thought was one of the fun-
nier moments he experienced

during his career at the zoo he
offered the following: “Well,
there really are a million, but I
guess one of the recurring joy-
ful events that I have is singing
with the donkeys. They’re so
sweet. I mean, really, it’s just
wonderful.”
I would love to hear a cho-
rus of Kagan and the donkeys
before he turns in his zoo key.
In the meantime, to borrow a
lyric from the song “Talk to
the Animals” from Dr. Dolittle:
If we could talk to the Detroit
Zoo animals, they’d say: “Well
done, Ron Kagan. We will
miss you, our friend.”

DETROIT ZOO

National Amphibian Conservation Center