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SALT LAKE CITY — LaMar Farnsworth, who served as director of Utah’s Hogle Zoo for 33 years, died Oct. 17 of leukemia. He was 86.
Farnsworth, who worked at the zoo for more than 40 years — 10 as a zookeeper — was at the time of his retirement the longest-serving zoo director in the country.
When he retired in 1997, the zoo dedicated the A. LaMar Farnsworth Primate Forest exhibit in his honor. His tenure saw the zoo expand into a park that contained 1,300 animals, 68 buildings and 220 full- and part-time employees.
Farnsworth also established the zoo’s education and docent programs and acquired the miniature train.
”A lot of positive things happened during his leadership, I suppose that’s why he lasted 33 years,” James E. Hogle Jr., who served on on the zoo’s board of directors for 40 years, said in a statement.
Hogle said some of the most important exhibits at the 42-acre zoo were created during Farnsworth’s era.
“The first big elephant habitat, gorillas, orangutans, they all came during LaMar’s time,” Hogle said.
Farnsworth was born March 9, 1933, in Duchesne and attended Brigham Young University and the University of Utah.
He is survived by his wife, Hazel Aileen Davidson Farnsworth, five children, 25 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. His son, Kent Ronald Farnsworth, preceded him in death.
