RON magill

ron magill 06 ALUMNI

WILDLIFE EXPERT AND PHOTOGRAPHER

ron magill

While many people’s jobs entail sitting at a desk all day, Miami Palmetto Senior High alumni and current Director of Communications for Zoo Miami Ron Magill spends time traveling the world photographing animals, spreading important messages regarding conservation and directly involving himself in conservation projects.

Born and raised in New York City in 1960 to a Cuban-immigrant father and American mother, Magill moved to Miami when he was only 12 years old to fulfill his father’s dream of owning a piece of property similar to what he left in Cuba. In Miami, Magill lived on a five-acre plot of land in the Redlands, surrounded by animals like possums, hawks, eagles and bobcats, which sparked his interest in animals.

“My father missed having a ranch with mango trees and avocado trees. He loved that lifestyle that he had in Cuba,” Magill said.

As a boy, he remembers idolizing Jim Fowler, the host of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” which he would watch every night at 7:30.

“And like I always tell people, [that] was church for me,” Magill said.

At the time, attending Palmetto was difficult for Magill and his parents, who had to drive 14 miles every day to get him to school on time.

“We had to leave the house no later than quarter after six every morning, which means we’re waking up at five,” Magill said. “It was a hassle. My parents made a lot of sacrifices to get me to go to Palmetto.”

Magill flourished academically and even went so far as to skip a grade.

“Because I had done very well in school, I qualified for an honors chemistry class. At that time, there were no honors classes offered at South Dade,” Magill said.

Magill’s mother then appealed to the Superintendent of Miami Dade Schools, who signed a waiver allowing him to attend Palmetto.

Despite his success, Magill faced many challenges growing up. At school, he was often teased by other students because of his height— 6 feet 6 inches —and his age.

“I was very tall early in my life. I was gangly; I was uncoordinated. [My peers] called me everything from ‘Lerch’ to ‘Frankenstein,’” Magill said.

However, things looked up for Magill when his height caught the attention of his high school basketball coach.

“When I was walking the halls the basketball coach saw me walking… and says, ‘you’re going to try out for basketball,’” Magill said.

Magill struggled at tryouts, but his coach was determined to help him become a better player.

“He worked very hard to get his coordination to where he could play the game the way he wanted to,” Magill’s high school basketball coach, Jay Bouton, said. “He was willing to do everything that was asked of him to try and improve.”

By his senior year he was an honorable mention all-city player, which led to him becoming a basketball star at Palmetto.

“We’ve remained friends ever since,” Bouton said.

After high school, Magill attended the University of Florida, but he left to pursue a job as a zookeeper at the Crandon Park.

“My senior year I didn’t finish [at UF] because I was offered a job to work as a zookeeper of the old Crandon Park Zoo before [the new Zoo Miami] was built,” Magill said.

Since leaving UF, Magill has made it his mission to protect wildlife.

This mission led him to Panama, and after seeing his favorite animal, the Harpy Eagle, living in cramped conditions at a local zoo there, he was motivated to create change. Magill convinced the mayor of Panama to endorse a campaign to teach the public about the eagle. In 2002, he spoke to the Panamanian Congress.

“[They then] wrote a law on April 10th, 2002, declaring the Harpy Eagle the national bird of Panama,” Magill said. “The mayor gave me the key to Panama City.”

Magill continued to spend his postgraduate years studying animals and photographing them in the wild. From tracking tigers in India and polar bears in the Arctic to swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos, Magill has traveled all around the world, visiting Africa over 50 times. There he witnessed firsthand the great migration- the largest mammal migration in the world- that brought tears to his eyes.

“As far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of thousands of wildebeests and

zebras...It was the greatest single wildlife spectacle on earth,” Magill said.

Magill has captured these emotional moments through his photography and documentaries. He has won six Emmy awards for his documentaries, such as: “Dreams of Alaska,” “The Amazon & Beyond,” “Alligator Love, and Dreams of the Rainforest,” which all capture wildlife in their natural habitats. As a Nikon ambassador, Magill hopes his images will inspire an appreciation for animals around the world.

“Photography was the best tool I had to tell my stories,” Magill said.

Magill also founded the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment fund, which aims to help conservation efforts and provide scholarships to those working on conservation. This year alone, it provided almost $85,000 in scholarships to highschool students.

“It ensures that money will go to protect those animals in the wild where they belong in perpetuity,” Magill said. Recently, Magill surprised wildlife ecology and conservation student Herby

Zephir with a $10,000 check to complete his studies at the University of Florida and pursue his conservation efforts.

“He is a Haitian boy. His parents came over here as refugees. His mother...works two shifts as a housekeeper, his father is a lawn maintenance guy,” Magill said. “... this kid is amazing... ”

Today, Magill continues his influential work at Zoo Miami, making television appearances on shows such as “Good Morning America” and “The Today Show,” and continuing his conservation efforts around the world.

“No matter what you love to do in life, I promise you, there is a job that will pay you to do it,” Magill said. “For me, it was talking about wildlife, telling wildlife stories, and getting people engaged in wildlife.”

Gianna Hutton Design Editor g.hutton.thepanther@gmail.com Julia Strasius Design Editor j.strasius.thepanther@gmail.com