One of Doug’s favorite sayings was something former director Charles Schroeder said to him early on: “Respect the past while changing the future.” Doug believed in the cause of ending extinction—which became SDZG’s official vision toward the end of his tenure. From finding and managing resources required to keep California condors soaring; to winning the struggle to bring pandas to the U.S., which helped save the species; to creating the Rhino Rescue Center, a scientific hub seeking to save the northern white rhino, Doug made it possible for SDZG to reach far beyond its gates and apply conservation efforts in countries around the globe.

Doug’s legacy is the powerful conservation organization he helped to build, a force for nature that has the ability and the will to save species from extinction.