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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
IN MEMORY OF DR. GEORGE B. RABB, Ph.D., FORMER PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF THE CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
WHEREAS, over the course of his more than 50-year career, Dr. George B. Rabb gained prominence globally as a conservation leader and a highly respected spokesman for wildlife conservation issues; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Rabb earned an undergraduate degree in biology from the College of Charleston in his home city of Charleston, South Carolina, and both a master's and doctoral degree in zoology from the University of Michigan; and
WHEREAS, in 1953, Dr. Rabb married Mary Sughrue Rabb, a fellow College of Charleston graduate who worked with Dr. Rabb on conservation issues until her passing in 2006; and
WHEREAS, a herpetologist by training, Dr. Rabb joined Brookfield Zoo in 1956 as one of the first Ph.D.'s to work in an American Zoo; he passionately served as the President of the Chicago Zoological Society from 1976 until 2004, at which time he was appointed President Emeritus; and
WHEREAS, during Dr. Rabb's tenure, the Chicago Zoological Society developed innovative approaches to the science of animal care and welfare, education and conservation, prompting the zoology field's first zoo nutrition lab for animals, first behavioral endocrinology testing for animal stress levels, and the first family play zoo, among many other notable firsts; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Rabb was instrumental in driving the concept of naturalistic and immersive animal exhibits and during his career, Brookfield Zoo enjoyed unprecedented revitalization and growth of its exhibits and programs; and
WHEREAS, throughout his career, Dr. Rabb published widely on many topics, including the evolutionary relationships of viperid snakes, behavioral development in okapi, social behavior in captive wolf packs, and the breeding behavior of pipid frogs; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Rabb served as the chair of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation...
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