John Tee-Van was an American ichthyologist and zoologist. He began his career as an apprentice zookeeper at the New York Zoological Park and ended it as its General Director.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York son of Patrick J. Tee-Van and Wilhelmina Wehnke Tee-Van, John attended school in New York City and took courses in zoology at New York University. He began his career at the Bronx Zoo in 1911, at the age of 14, as an apprentice keeper in the Bird Department, joining the zoo after the death of his father, who had also been an employee of the zoo.
Tee-Van left his position in the Bird Department in 1917 after Department Curator William Beebe heard that Tee-Van took night classes in architectural drafting and asked him to draw a bird bone. Beebe was so impressed with Tee-Van’s drawing that he immediately made him an assistant in his new department. For the next 26 years, Tee-Van was a valuable member of Beebe’s famed team, both as a scientific assistant and observer and as a practical organizer. Throughout the expeditions, he prepared and illustrated scientific papers and collaborated with Beebe on Field Book of the Shore Fishes of Bermuda and the Fishes of Port-au-Prince Bay, Haiti.
Trip to China
In 1941, two young giant pandas were offered by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of the Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China, and her sister-in-law Madame H. H. Kung, to the organization United China Relief. The organization promised the pandas to the Bronx Zoo, which sent John Tee-Van to bring them back from China. He left on September 25, 1941 on a journey to Chengdu, in southwest China. He was at sea in the Pacific on his return trip with the pandas during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of that year but arrived safely in San Francisco a few days after. The pandas made it to the zoo in good health, though there was trouble with procuring bamboo for them along the way. Tee-Van documented his entire journey to China in journals and photographs, and he saved many mementos such as invitations, newspaper clippings, personal letters, and boarding passes.
Having returned to the zoo in 1940 as executive secretary and administrative assistant to the president of the New York Zoological Society, Tee-Van became director of the Bronx Zoo in 1952, a position he held until 1962. In 1956 he became the general director of both the zoo and the New York Aquarium. During his administration at the Bronx Zoo, Tee-Van was responsible for gaining Social Security, Hospitalization and Group Life Insurance for the NYZS employees and founded the staff publication Zoo-Log. In 1961 NYZS presented Tee-Van with its gold medal in recognition of his scientific achievements and service to the Society. In his acceptance speech, Tee-Van said "I want to give my blessings to the millions of animals I have known". After 50 years, 10 months and 13 days service, John Tee-Van retired from NYZS on July 5, 1962 at the age of 65. Apart from William Beebe, Tee-Van was the only member of staff to ever achieve 50 years of active service at that time. He continued on at the zoo after his retirement, returning to the Department of Tropical Research to continue his work on fishes.
Expeditions
1917: British Guiana
1919-1920: British Guiana
1921-1922: British Guiana, Trinidad and Venezuela
1923: Panama and the Galapagos Islands
1924: British Guiana
1925: Saragasso Sea, Caribbean to the Galapagos Islands
International Union Directors of Zoological Gardens – Member from 1953
Museums Council of New York City – Chairman 1945-1948
Century Association – Resident member from 1947
The Explorers Club – Active resident member 1925-1953, Member of the Board of Directors 1947-1952, 1954-1956, Third Vice President in 1948, First Vice-President 1949-1950, 18th President 1951-1952, Honorary life member from 1953.
Boone & Crockett Club – Associate Member from 1943 and Vice-President 1955-1957
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists – Member from 1933, on the Board of Governors 1942-1947 and 1954-1958, Vice President 1951-1954.
Trinidad Field Naturalists Club – Honorary Member from 1921
Pacific Sailfish Club – Honorary Member from 1938
American Association of Museums – Member from 1953
Brookgreen Gardens – Member of the Advisory Board from 1949
New-York Historical Society – Member from 1951
American Institute of Park Executives – Fellow from 1947
Tee-Van married Helen T. Damrosch on July 17, 1923; they had no children. Helen was an accomplished animal illustrator and author who was also a member of the Department of Tropical Research staff.
Death
Tee-Van suffered a stroke in early 1966 which left him partially paralyzed, and he died at his home in Sherman, Connecticut on November 5, 1967.
