EXPLORE:

The North Carolina Zoological Society received a $500,000 gift in February from Leonard and Rose Herring and the Leonard G. Herring Family Foundation of North Wilkesboro. The gift, a response to the Zoo Society’s Project: Pachyderms capital fundraising campaign , will sponsor the rhino exhibit in the N.C. Zoo’s planned Watani Grasslands expansion.

   “We are very grateful for Leonard and Rose Herring’s generosity,” said Russ Williams, N.C. Zoo Society executive director. “Their gift will make a real difference in our efforts to provide zoo visitors, researchers and conservation enthusiasts with an unparalleled experience centered on the African plains and the life that inhabits them.”

   Leonard Herring , a native of Snow Hill, NC, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1948. He joined Lowe’s Companies in 1955 and helped build a few hardware stores into one of the top building-supply chains in the U.S. He became CEO in 1978 and, by the time Herring retired in 1996, Lowe’s had more than 365 stores and annual sales of more than $7 billion. Herring is a 1977 inductee of the N.C. Business Hall of Fame and recently completed six years service on the N.C. Zoo Society Board of Directors.

   The Herrings’ recent gift brings the Zoo Society to more than $4.4 million raised toward a $6 million goal for Project: Pachyderms. When the project is complete, the North Carolina Zoo’s elephant and rhino exhibits will be among the finest in the United States. Plans include family groups with baby elephants and rhinos.