A memorial monument to a beloved Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks Fisheries Biologist that has been at the Central Mall since 1995 has been relocated.

Bruce Zamrzla was instrumental in the creation of a large aquarium at the mall in the mid 1980s.  At the time the  aquarium was the largest free standing fish tank in Kansas.

Zamrzla worked his entire career in the Ellsworth District, which includes Ellsworth, Lincoln, Ottawa, Russell, and Saline Counties. He was killed in 1994 while returning home after presenting an educational program in Lincoln.

In 1995 the aquarium was named in Zamrzla’s honor, and a monument to him was dedicated and installed. “His memory inspires us to continue as stewards of the environment” it reads in part. It concludes “As Bruce was quoted the day before his death ‘even after death there is life'”.

Though the aquarium has been closed for about  five years, the monument had remained.

On Monday of this week Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks removed the monument. It’s headed to the Milford Fish Hatchery.

_ _ _

Photo via Central Mall