January, 2016- Celebration Marks Million Dollar Donation to Palm Beach Zoo from Ruth & Ted Baum
The Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society is pleased to announce a $1.25mm donation from Palm Beach philanthropists, Ruth and Ted Baum. The gift will be used for the construction of the Baum Entryway.
“A commitment of this size marks the beginning of an exciting growth phase,” said Palm Beach Zoo CEO and President, Andrew Aiken.
Over the next twelve months, the Zoo, which is visited by over 300,000 guests annually, is positioned to renovate several of its exhibits. Ruth Baum is a member of the Zoo’s Board of Directors and will chair its newly formed Design Committee.
The couple held a dinner party at their home in celebration of the announcement. Attendees included Award-winning landscape architect Michael Singer, National Geographic photographer and co-founder of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Carlton Ward, Board Members Carole and John Moran, Bob and Debbie Dunkin, Peggy Greenfield, Jan Willinger and Bob Speigel, John and Angela Lacy and other Zoo supporters.
About Michael Singer
Michael Singer – Select Biography
Artist and Principal Designer, Michael Singer Studio. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s Michael Singer’s work opened new possibilities for outdoor and indoor sculpture and contributed to the definition of site specific art and the reimagining of public places. From the 1990’s to the present his work has been instrumental in transforming public art, architecture, landscape, and planning projects into successful models for urban and ecological renewal. Singer has also been engaged in the rethinking of infrastructure facilities and systems in the United States and Europe and co-authored Infrastructure and Community published by Environmental Defense Fund.
Michael Singer has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His works are part of public collections in the United States and abroad, including the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He has had several one-person shows, most notably at the Guggenheim Museum, New York City and most recently in 2011-2012 at the Utzon Center in Aalborg and the Danish Architectural Center in Copenhagen, Denmark.
About Carlton Ward
Carlton Ward Jr. is a conservation photographer from Tampa, Florida. His passion for nature was born from the Florida landscape, where eight generations of family history have grounded his perspective. He sees natural environments and cultural legacies as the Earth’s greatest yet most threatened resources. For his first book, The Edge of Africa, Ward spent eight months in the tropical rain forests of Gabon with the Smithsonian Institution documenting the region’s unseen and undiscovered biological diversity. The photographs were exhibited in Gabon, London and at a United Nations reception in New York. Ward’s work documenting endangered desert elephants in Mali was on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine and comprised a chapter in the National Geographic book, Great Migrations.
Ward’s current focus is the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a public awareness initiative he established in 2009. In 2012, he co-led the Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition – a 100 day, 1000 mile trek that explored the last remaining natural path through the length of the Florida peninsula. The expedition began in Everglades National Park in January and reached the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia on Earth Day, April 22. National Geographic Explorer Michael Fay joined the journey for the final week. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition story will be released as national PBS film to in January 2013.
About the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society
The Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches exists to inspire people to act on behalf of wildlife and the natural world. We advance our conservation mission through endangered species propagation, education and support of conservation initiatives in the field. Our commitment to sustainable business practices elevates our capacity to inspire others. The Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society is located at 1301 Summit Boulevard in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, except Thanksgiving and Christmas. For more information, visit www.palmbeachzoo.org.