“While Dad/Jack is still mobile, his thoughts fail him, the light in his eyes is dimmed and we miss who he was every moment of every day,” the celebrity zookeeper said. Jac HannaThe family wrote this in a statement.
Hanna, 77, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019 and retired in 2020, shortly after his last stage performance with animals.
“He would have worked until the day he died. He recently retired due to Alzheimer’s disease,” his daughter Kathaleen said. “He was ashamed of it. He lived in fear that the public would find out.”
Jack’s wife, Suzi, said he didn’t want the public to know his diagnosis. After the Columbus Zoo, which he no longer led, faced problems, including the loss of its principal accreditation, some asked him for a response. That is why the family decided to announce his diagnosis in 2021.
Suzi said it “killed her” to break her promise and make his condition public.
“If this helps even one other family, sharing Dad’s story will be more than worth it,” said Kathaleen. “He helped everyone he could throughout his life. He will never know or understand it, but he still does it now.”
