Donna Fernandes

She stands long and lean with a style flowing somewhere between bohemian hippie and new age chic.

She views the world from expressive brown eyes reflecting Godiva’s deepest, richest palette.

She partners in a loving marriage, long shaped and defined by a lifestyle of distance.

She enjoys bugs more than books and snakes more than shopping… any day of the week.

And if all of those details aren’t WOW! enough, Buffalo Zoo Director Donna Fernandes truly believes that life in Buffalo is better than any place in the country.

Donna and husband, Robert Savage

 

Fernandes actually put her belief into action last December as she relinquished a prestigious zoo director’s job in Fresno, California for the chance to return to the helm of Buffalo’s Zoological Gardens.

The reason?

One of the most basic known to womankind, and one that this Massachusetts native explains in a quote from her favorite Wizard of Oz Movie, “There’s no place like home.”

I visited with Fernandes one recent January evening in the charming carriage house where she and husband, Robert Savage, currently reside.

Because of separate careers, this is the first time in their 8-year marriage that the two are living under one roof. So it’s not surprising that their co-habitation appears very much like a honeymoon.

Yet what also clearly shines through in every word and action Fernandes offers these days is that she is happy—gloriously happy—to once again be living in Buffalo under the identity of the city’s zoo director. “When I accepted the job in Fresno, the people there were so excited, and really had high hopes.”

” They hadn’t had any direction for quite a while and their zoo had become rather run down. And really, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“But when I got out there, I was more impressed by the beauty of California than the lifestyle.”

Within a matter of months, the bottom line for this instinctive woman became something much more personal, much less concrete.

“When I first came to Buffalo it felt like home from the first time I walked through the zoo gates. But it didn’t feel like that in Fresno. It never felt like home.”

Fernandes offers a laundry list of reasons for her disorientation: West Coast architecture, the weather, the culture.

She also genuinely missed the staff of the Buffalo Zoo, who during her five-year tenure became professional partners, close friends, family.

And that’s why a package sent to Fernandes in California, by one of her extended zoo family members, literally changed her life.

“At my going away party last summer I told my staff that our work at the zoo was successful as much because of them, as me.”

” I used the ending of The Wizard of Oz, to explain how they all had what they needed inside of them to make the zoo better, and that, like the Wizard, I had just been the catalyst to help bring out their talents and gifts.”

” Then a few months after I moved, a wonderful woman by the name of Penny Starke, who has been a volunteer at the zoo for over 20 years, sent me a package. I opened it and inside there was a pair of ruby slippers.”

The meaning of the gift was immediately apparent to Fernandes.

“I just burst into tears and called Robert and said ‘why am I pretending that I like it here?’”

Fast forward to a November ribbon cutting for the Buffalo Zoo’s renovated reptile house. As previously promised, Donna and Robert returned from California to join in the celebration.

Within moments of entering the zoo grounds, Robert observed the obvious, a moment Fernandes recalls with heartfelt emotion giving way to tears.

“We walked into the zoo and I was so happy to see everybody and so proud of the exhibit. And almost immediately Robert said to me ‘you really were happy here.’”

”I told him yes, I really was. And he simply said, ‘then we’ll do whatever you want.’”

The resulting combination of her husband’s supportive attitude and those magical ruby slippers have provided Fernandes with a new lease on life, all the way around.

As of December 1st , the visionary zoologist picked up where she left off, returning to Buffalo and putting the zoo’s master plan back into “full speed ahead” mode.

She now spends her days pushing, pulling and massaging all the elements needed to complete phase one of the zoo’s renovations.

She is also cautiously optimistic that some form of phases two and three will become a reality and continues to work on funding sources to solidify those plans.

On the home front, she and Robert are fully enjoying life together on a daily basis, interspersed with treasured visits from her best friend/sister and Robert’s children.

And so, once again, life is good

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon Donna Fernandes’ arrival in Buffalo in 2000, I was assigned to interview her as the newly appointed director of the city’s zoo.

As a Buffalo native, conditioned to out-of-town transplants employing hit-and-run management techniques, I asked her how long she was willing to stay?

Her reply then was 20 years; the time she believed it would take to accomplish her zoo renovation goals.

Over the ensuing five years, I watched Fernandes blossom, not only in her role as the Zoo’s Director, but also as a valued community leader.

As an example, last year when Erie County fractured under the stress of the budget crisis, Fernandes was the only individual in any position of leadership in the entire county to take a pay cut and forgo a bonus.

Admirably, she states that it was her intent to set an example and stand as a symbol.

So last year, when Fernandes left this community, her departure undoubtedly created a leadership vacuum within the zoo as well as throughout the region.

Consequently, now that she has returned, her presence is providing a positive energy filled with possibility and excitement.

And so again, five years later, I ask Donna Fernandes how long she is willing to stay?

With a gentle smile this wise woman begins a review of future zoo projects. Cautiously, she calculates a projected time frame of about 15 years, at which point she pauses and casts a glance at those treasured ruby slippers prominently displayed in a place of honor.

“I was so afraid of how accepting the people in this community would be when I returned, after leaving them. I wondered about that saying that you can never go home again.”

” But the people in this community have welcomed me back with open arms and I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.

” I’m almost giddy and so in love with Buffalo.”

A sentiment most worthy of those

magical ruby red slippers.