Diane Smith, wife of the late FedEx founder Fred Smith, just handed the Memphis Zoo the largest single donation in its history. The $50 million gift is structured as a matching challenge, aimed at pulling in another $50 million from the community. Together, that’s a full $100 million toward the zoo’s first comprehensive campus plan, kicking off with a reimagined Africa exhibit.
The zoo says the combined investment will go toward creating immersive new habitats, advancing animal care and conservation, expanding educational programs, and improving the overall guest experience for years to come.
Smith’s family has backed the zoo for more than three decades. “As a mother to 10 children and grandmother to more than 35 grandchildren, the zoo has always been a special, memorable place for us,” she said, adding that she’s honored to help ensure other families can enjoy “this incredible Memphis gem for generations to come.”
Zoo leadership called the gift transformational for the institution’s future, a milestone in an operation that’s grown a long way from its 1994 city-funded budget of $1.2 to $3 million to a $26 million annual budget today.
Regular visitors had their own wish lists for where the money should go. Some hoped for cooler, more comfortable habitats for the animals during Memphis summers. Others, like a mother visiting with her son, wanted to see new exhibits, rides, and themed events added to the mix, dinosaur exhibits among them.
