A Literal Bat Cave
This obituary is gold.
First, it’s a flex to go by “J. David.” Second, it’s incredible to be described as “a reluctant fried-chicken magnate.” Third, chainsaws. Finally, he literally built a bat cave:
Suddenly enchanted by bats, Bamberger next hired biologists and geologists to hunt for a spot…where he could establish a bat population of his own. They couldn’t find a single suitable site.
“Most people would have said, ‘Oh well, that’s too bad. I guess we’re not going to have a big bat colony here’...But not J. David. What he said was, ‘Oh, guess we better try to build one.’”
Construction of a system of underground caves was completed in 1997 – a mammoth project which Bamberger conceded was “eccentric” even for him, and which was mocked locally as “Bamberger’s Folly.” It took several years, and some iterative modifications to the structure, but wild bats eventually moved in and established a colony there. The population is now half-a-million strong.
This puts my wildflower and my wife’s beekeeping hobbies to shame.
I said last week that the point of money is not to have it, but to do stuff with it because sometimes that stuff is worth way more than the money. This is that.
Rest easy, J. David.
– Tim
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