Jeff Swanagan, the former Georgia Aquarium executive director and president who left Atlanta last year to become executive director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, died Sunday evening of an apparent heart attack.
Swanagan, 51, collapsed at his suburban Columbus home.
"Jeff was a visionary, educator and wildlife advocate whose mantra was 'touch the heart to teach the mind,'" Columbus Zoo and Aquarium officials said in a statement Monday morning. "The zoo community mourns the loss of their friend, colleague and leader and sends our condolences to his family."
Swanagan, who was hired to create the Georgia Aquarium in 2002, started his career at the Columbus Zoo in 1980 as a zookeeper and was the Ohio facility's education director from 1982 to 1987.
He also worked 11 years at Zoo Atlanta before moving to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa in 1998.
"Jeff was an integral part of the team that took my vision of the Georgia Aquarium and made it a reality," aquarium founder Bernie Marcus said Monday.
"He was the first employee, and I will always remember the hours we spent together -- the frustrating ones and the exhilarating ones," Marcus said. "I smile when I remember during the opening when Jeff and I did TV interviews at 5 a.m. around the country encouraging and enticing people to come from far away. Just this week we reached our 10 millionth guest, so I know Jeff and I were successful. He will always be remembered as a friend and a creator of the Georgia Aquarium."
Anthony Godfrey, president and chief operating officer of the Georgia Aquarium, issued a statement Monday saying, "Jeff left a family of staff here at the Georgia Aquarium who cared deeply for him.
"He was a dedicated educator whose passion for making a difference for wild things in wild places was evident through all of his work and leadership," Godfrey said. "We send our love and respect to his family. This is a great loss for the zoological community."
Swanagan, a native of Cleveland, said last year that he was approached by world-renowned animal expert Jack Hanna, a longtime friend, about the Columbus job.
Hanna is director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
"Right now, I'm in a state of shock," Hanna told the the Columbus Dispatch newspaper Sunday night. "It's just awful news."
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