1. Richard Marlin Perkins was an American zoologist.
15 Facts About Marlin Perkins
1. 2.
Marlin Perkins is best known as the host of the television program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1985.
3.
Marlin Perkins's grieving father sent Marlin's two older brothers to private school, and Marlin was sent to his Aunt Laura's farm in Pittsburg, Kansas.
4.
Marlin Perkins briefly attended the University of Missouri, but quit school to become a laborer at the Saint Louis Zoological Park.
5.
Marlin Perkins rose through the ranks, becoming the reptile curator in 1928.
6.
Marlin Perkins then served as director at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, starting in 1944.
7.
In 1962, Marlin Perkins returned to the St Louis Zoo, this time as director.
8.
Marlin Perkins was the host of Zoo Parade, a television program that originated from the Lincoln Park Zoo on NBC station WNBQ-TV when he was the director there.
9.
Marlin Perkins helped establish the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center near St Louis in 1971.
10.
Marlin Perkins retired from active zookeeping in 1970 and from Wild Kingdom in 1985 for health reasons.
11.
Marlin Perkins remained with the Saint Louis Zoo as Director Emeritus until his death on June 14,1986, of cancer.
12.
Marlin Perkins was granted honorary doctoral degrees from the then University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri; Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin; Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri; MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois; and the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska.
13.
In 1990, Marlin Perkins was inducted into the St Louis Walk of Fame.
14.
Marlin Perkins married his first wife, Elise More, in 1933; they were divorced in 1953.
15.
Marlin Perkins married his second wife, Carol Morse Cotsworth, in 1960; they remained married until his death.