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