Memories of Jack Throp (1926 – 2011)

Jack Throp was undoubtedly the most upbeat fellow I ever met. He always had a ready smile and a warm greeting.  He had a joyful musical lilt in his voice whenever he spoke, whether he was talking talking about family, volunteer interests, or just routine events.  There was a calm and joyful note behind every aspect of his life. If you ever encountered Jack Throp in the course of the day, you would likely recall that encounter as the highlight of your whole day.

Apprenticed as a saddlemaker when he was a young man in Arizona, Jack went on to a remarkable career as a zoo keeper beginning at the San Diego Zoo. He served as a bird trainer/consultant on the Disney movie, Swiss Family Robinson and went on to prestigious work in other zoos. He was General Curator at the Phoenix Zoo, moved on to be the Director of the Honolulu Zoo and later in his career became Director of Taronga Park Zoo in Sidney, Australia.

I first met Jack in 1991 at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Birmingham, Ala., shortly after his retirement from the Birmingham Zoo where he was Director of the Birmingham Zoological Society.  I came to know him as a friend, a storyteller, a writer, a poet, a great conversationalist and a truly nice guy. 

It seemed that Jack could do just about anything he set his mind to do. A few years ago I was introduced to his artistic side. He had an art show opening at the old Lyda Rose Gallery in Homewood. The show featured a series of primitive wooden masks on which Jack had painted a variety of scenes and patterns.  Also there on exhibit was a beautiful bronze casting of two hippopotamuses, appearing to be rising up out of the water. I asked Jack about that piece. He told me that it was a replica of a very large piece that he had created for the Honolulu Zoo.  He recounted how at the zoo they had wanted to have such a sculpture as a centerpiece for a new area they would be opening. “I thought, well I could do that,” Jack told me, and he then talked about how he sculpted the large mold that would serve as a cast for the larger-than-life fixture at the zoo. I was amazed, partly because I didn’t know about that side of Jack Throp.  I asked him, “When did you decide to take on sculpting?” Jack responded in complete candor, “Right then and there at the Honolulu Zoo.”  I was dumbfounded and amazed. Some artists spend years in training, some go to Paris to study with the great ones, Jack Throp just picked up some tools and went to work when he saw what needed to be done!

Just a couple of years ago I was proud to attend a book signing event to have Jack autograph a copy of his book, Not-So-Wild Animals I have Known. Reading that book was just as fascinating and fun as talking with the man himself.  I count it a privilege to have known Jack Throp. I never had an encounter with him that was not delightful.  Jack was a bright light in Birmingham, and his light will be missed.

 Charles Kinnaird

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To read a wonderful article online from The Birmingham News about Jack on the occasion of the publication of his book, visit http://blog.al.com/mhuebner/2009/04/birmingham_writer_and_former_z.html

To see his obituary page got to http://obits.al.com/obituaries/birmingham/obituary.aspx?n=jack-lacroix-throp&pid=152677032&eid=sp_shareobit

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