Millennium Magazine_5th Ed

317 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Creighton University and Midland Lutheran University. Starting off as a Mammals Curator, Veterinarian and Assistant Superintendent at the Columbus Municipal Zoo from 1963 to 1966, Dr. Simmons now serves as Chairman of the Board for the Omaha Zoo Foundation. From 1970 to 2009, he served as the Executive Director of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, where with the help of his wife Marie, who was a surrogate mom to scores of orphaned animals, and a penchant for design and engineering, he was able to build one of the five or 10 top zoos in the world. In addition to his primary roles, Dr. Simmons had appointments at the Creighton University School of Dentistry, the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Omaha VA Hospital. For his contributions to his field, Dr. Simmons was named Conservationist of the Year by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in 2019, was named a Nebraskaland Legend in 2019, received the Ulysses S. Seal, Innovation in Conservation Award (CBSG) in 2013 and was voted #132 out of 150 notable Nebraskans since Nebraska became a state in 1867 by the Lincoln Journal Star. He was granted a street in his name and had a day named in his honor in both Nebraska and Oklahoma. He has published 95 papers and traveled to 52 countries and the Antarctic. Dr. Simmons is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and was a founding director of the International Species Inventory System (now Species 360). He is a founding board member of the Global Conservation Network and the Steering Committee of the Conservation Planning Specialists Group of the IUCN. He is Past President of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and the Nebraska Academy of Veterinary Medicine. O riginally interested in herpetology, after Dr. Lee G Simmons volunteered at the Oklahoma City Zoo reptile garden, he chose to move forth with a career in veterinary medicine, conservation, research, and zoo and aquarium design. He earned a DVM from Oklahoma State University in 1963 and holds honorary doctorates from LEE G. SIMMONS, DVM CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Omaha Zoo Foundation Omaha, NE SCIENCES, PHARMACEUTICALS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY