Famed TV Zookeeper Jack Hanna Has Advanced Alzheimer’s, No Longer Remembers Most of His Family

Keisha Hatchett
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Jack Hanna, fierce animal advocate and late-night talk show staple throughout the 1980s and 1990s, is now in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Hanna’s wife Suzi has confirmed that the beloved zookeeper, who was first diagnosed in October 2019, doesn’t remember anyone beyond her, his dog Brassy and his oldest daughter Kathaleen. “The Jack people knew isn’t here anymore, but pieces of my husband are,” Suzi told the Columbus Dispatch. “And I’m going to hang onto them for as long as I can.”

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Hanna was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Show With David Letterman and the Today show, where he showed off a variety of animals from the local zoos. He also hosted numerous wildlife docuseries, including Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures, Into the Wild and Wild Countdown.

His youngest daughter Suzanne shared that he “just stopped remembering who I was in all ways… Whether it was in person or by phone, he had no idea I was his daughter. I think it’s because he didn’t see me as much because I got married so young and I moved away.”

Hanna actively served as the director of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium from 1978 to 1992 and held onto the honorary title until his official retirement in 2020. “He would have worked until the day he died. He only retired due to the Alzheimer’s,” Kathaleen said. “He was embarrassed by it. He lived in fear the public would find out.”

Hanna’s family first went public with his diagnosis in April 2021, revealing that his condition “progressed much faster in the last few months than any of us could have anticipated” and that he was “no longer able to participate in public life as he used to.”

And while Hanna’s memory isn’t what it used to be, Suzi noted that “the showman is still in there somewhere… Jack loved making people laugh as much as he loved taking care of animals.”

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