Stephen R. Wylie

Stephen R. Wylie

1943-2021

Stephen R. Wylie was born November 15, 1943 in Kansas City, Missouri to Charles Richard Wylie and Setta Jacqueline Johnston.   After a 2 1/2 month battle with COVID-19, he died March 11, 2021 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Steve is survived by his wife, Patsy Ann Bellamy Wylie, of 55 1/2 years, sons Jayson, Justin & wife Jamicia, and grandchildren Sydnie and Blake of Edmond, and Aleksandra Payne and husband Austin Payne and great-grandson Burke Wylie Payne of Oklahoma City, daughter Jenna Suzanne Morcos, grandchildren Gabrielle, Jocelyn, and Holden of Charlotte, NC,  Sisters-in-law Starr Wylie of Eagan, MN and Alice Bellamy of Cairo, NE, and cousin Sandra Genz  and husband Bill, Kansas City, KS.  Steve was preceded in death by his parents, brother Larry Wylie & brother-in-law Larry Bellamy.

Steve was passionate about his zoo career, conservation, international travels, birding, hunting and fishing.  He was Director of the Oklahoma City Zoo from 1985 until his retirement in 2000.

Steve graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1965 and the University of Kansas in 1967 and began his zoo career in the late 1960s with professional positions with the Kansas City Zoo, followed by positions in the Philadelphia and St. Louis Zoo’s.  He was named Director of the Oklahoma City Zoo in 1985.

During his 15 year tenure at the Oklahoma City Zoo, Steve was a builder. He dramatically increased community support and created numerous major renovations, upgrades and new exhibits including Aquaticus, Great EscApe, and Big Cat Country which won the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Exhibits Award in 1996, one of the first zoos to get the honor. Steve was also central to the early planning for Oklahoma Trails which would become the zoo’s signature exhibit when it opened in 2007.  Steve transformed the Oklahoma City Zoo and put it on track to become a one of the Nation’s great zoos. Since his retirement, the Oklahoma City Zoo has continued to grow and thrive with the opening of the state-of-the-art Oklahoma Trails and Asian elephant habitat and other important improvements.

In addition to his professional work, Steve was an avid fly fisherman and birder, and, for 15 years, led an annual birding trip to international locals with a group of zoo professional friends. In addition, he was a volunteer with Reel Recovery, a fishing oriented support group for cancer patients undergoing Chemotherapy. Before retirement, Steve was an active member of downtown Oklahoma City Rotary Club 29 and a member of Leadership Oklahoma City Class V.

According to a recent professional journal article featuring Steve, “Few zoo directors have been as well liked by the American zoo community as Steve Wylie.” In that article, Steve said, “My philosophy basically was that everywhere I went, I tried to make a positive difference. I don’t feel I ever wavered from that goal.”

A private Celebration of Life will be held  later this year. Family requests memorials to The V Foundation for cancer research.