Bob Ellis, retiring Air Zoo chief, wasn't afraid to 'break all the rules'

PORTAGE, MI -- During Bob Ellis' early years at the Air Zoo, the only time he would break the pattern of wearing jeans and a T-shirt to work is when he would have a business meeting. 

"I'd have to clean the grease from my fingernails," he said, recalling when the aviation museum in Portage opened to the public in 1979. "It used to be a hangar full of old planes."

Ellis, whose retirement at the end of the month will end his 35-year career with the Air Zoo, has helped transform that small collection of planes into a more than 120,000-square-foot facility that is just as much a theme park as it is a museum.

Ellis, a former aviation mechanic, was the first employee hired by the founders of the museum in 1977. It began as a place to collect, restore and fly World War II era airplanes, Ellis said. The museum drew just 3,000 people in its first year open to the public.

By 1997, the Air Zoo had grown to become one of the major aviation museums in the country with a collection of 80 aircraft, drawing about 45,000 people a year. But it was in that year that Ellis and his staff made a decision that would change the game for aviation museums.

"Quite simply, we broke all the rules," he said. "It finally occurred to me in the middle of the night one night that we could create a museum that had the appeal of a family attraction or theme park."

Not everyone was supportive of the idea to market a museum as an entertainment attraction.

"I remember being ushered out of a room of museum professionals when I suggested we act like we were in the entertainment business rather than the education business," Ellis said.

But since adding full-motion flight simulators, a 4-D theater and indoor amusement park-style rides, the Air Zoo has tripled its attendance. The museum drew 120,000 people this year.

"Sixty percent of them haven't looked at an airplane before," Ellis said.

That's what sets the Air Zoo apart from most aviation museums. Instead of drawing just flyboys and history buffs, the Air Zoo sees students, mothers and young children come through the doors.

"Aviation is a wonderful story and we get to tell that story to everyone," he said. "One of my favorite things is to see kids jumping up and down in the parking lot excited to come inside."

Ellis played a key role in the Air Zoo's most recent expansion in 2011 -- a 50,000-square-foot East Wing that features a new space exhibit, World War II naval aviation gallery, women Air Force service pilots exhibit and a library.

"What I've enjoyed most is seeing the growth and changes we've seen here," he said.

Ellis said his replacement, Troy Thrash, will continue the museum's momentum. Thrash, 42, currently serves as the executive director and CEO of the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, Pa. 

"My sense is the he will embrace the community and the vision of moving the museum forward," Ellis said.

Thrash was hired after a nationwide search by the Air Zoo board of directors.

"I am honored to be selected to build upon this strong foundation, working with partners in all sectors to realize the vision of becoming the most influential air and space experience in the world," Thrash said in a statement.

Ellis, meanwhile, said he is looking forward to the opportunity to rest and "decompress" when he retires.

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