She experienced the Congo, the African Plains, and Madagascar, but didn’t have to leave the Bronx to do it.
Linda Corcoran, the go-to communications director at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo, made sure the world-renown cultural institution got its fair share of media recognition. She has retired after 26 years of service.
During her tenure at the zoo, Corcoran said that among her fondest memories were was working on the planning, construction, and opening of Jungle World in 1985, as well as the Madagascar exhibit recently.
“Those exhibits are things that most people don’t get to see from the ground up,” Corcoran said. “We’d walk on construction planks and try to envision what it would look like from the artist’s rendering.”
Corcoran, a Woodlawn resident, said the mission of the society is something that she still feels passionate about after all these years.
“Most people cannot travel around the world and be fortunate enough to see the amount of wildlife they can see in one day at the Bronx Zoo,” Corcoran said. “There is really something for everyone here and it is an oasis in the city. It is one of the most beautiful, well-run places to see wildlife.”
John Calvelli, executive vice president for public affairs at WCS, said that Corcoran represented the zoo well.
“She is missed already and has only been gone a few days,” Calvelli said. “I had the privilege of working with her for nine years, and through that time she was really was the voice of the zoo.”
