Maple, Terry L.
Dr. Terry Maple, who turned Atlanta's zoo into one of best in U.S., touching countless lives both two- and four-legged in the process, died Dec. 3, 2023. He was 77.
Tasked by then-Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young with turning around the Atlanta zoo in the 1980s, Maple created a capable core team, raised money, instituted an expansive rebuild and rebranding program - including the birth of the moniker Zoo Atlanta - established corporate partnerships that helped foot the bills and transformed the zoo into a top-drawer educational and research facility. All that in the space of just a few years.
"He was a dynamic man," said Gail Eaton, who once served the zoo as vice president of marketing and communications under Maple. "He knew what he wanted and he kept going until he got it."
Combining his relentless optimism with canny marketing, he used tools such as the zoo's best-known resident, gorilla Willie B., and local media to get the community behind his plans.
Friends and family say a bond with animals infused Maple's childhood, igniting a passion that led to a Ph.D in psychobiology at the University of California-Davis and an eventual professorship at Georgia Tech before he came to the Atlanta zoo.
Maple kept a part-time position with the university while running Zoo Atlanta. He brought Georgia Tech graduate psychology students to Grant Park to study all animals great and small.
The veteran zoo administrator departed in 2002, returning to Georgia Tech and later helming the Palm Beach Zoo.
Read more about Terry Maple on ajc.com
