NASHUA – When he died unexpectedly nine years ago at age 29, friends and family of Hollis native Jonathan Gilmour weren’t about to let his passion for the well-being of animals – from house pets to giraffes, penguins and marine life – fade away with time.

Now, with the approach of the eighth annual Jonathan Gilmour Memorial Scholarship Fund Bike Ride and Walk, hundreds of people can look back with pride at the fact that more than 50 zookeepers and zoo employees at Zoo New England – where Gilmour worked as a zookeeper – have been able to participate in wildlife-related projects and programs as varied as assisting endangered drill baboons in Nigeria to studying and protecting sea turtles right here in New England.

Funds raised from events like the bike ride and walk – which takes place Saturday, May 9, starting and finishing at the Lawrence Barn in Hollis – have allowed the fund created in Gilmour’s name to award scholarships and grants to perpetuate his passion for wildlife advocacy through others who are following in his footsteps.

This year’s ride and walk will be followed by a cookout for participants and family members. All proceeds go to the fund.

Bicycle riders can choose from a 10-mile, 25-mile or 50-mile route. The walk is a 3-mile loop.

(More details and registration information included in accompanying fact box.)

Gilmour, who battled scoliosis for years and had his first surgery at age 14, died in early April 2006 in Scotland, where he was completing his master’s degree in animal behavior and animal welfare at the University of Edinburgh.

His parents, David and Peggy Gilmour, said at the time that his death was caused by blood clots that lodged in his lungs.

David Gilmour, a retired Nashua physician and avid bicyclist who has organized and led more than 100 tours in the U.S., Canada and Scotland, said his son’s unique relationship with animals was evident from childhood.

“He’s always been their guardian,” he said, recalling how his son befriended even bumblebees, making sure to not run over one while mowing the lawn.

Peggy Gilmour, a nurse and former head of Home Health Hospice as well as a former state senator, said she greatly admired her son for the courage he showed not only in his longtime battle with scoliosis but how he worked to overcome Tourette syndrome, a condition that manifests in tics and jerky motions.

The younger Gilmour worked for a time in the advertising field, but it wasn’t for him, and it showed, his father said in 2006. Some time earlier, noticing that his son was conflicted between earning a white-collar living and pursuing his dream of working at a zoo, he gave him some fatherly advice: “Jonathan, if you want to work at a zoo, work at a zoo,” he said he told his son.

After his death, the Gilmours found comfort in knowing that their son spent his last few years doing what he loved. “I actually have some solace that he didn’t wait” to go to work at the New England Zoo, his father said.

Jon Gilmour made the most of his time there, befriending animals in his special way and deriving from it a sense of purpose and fulfillment.

In 2002, Gilmour received a national award called “Ultimate Zookeeper” for winning the “Ultimate Zookeeper Challenge” – a competition hosted by Blue Fang Games, the producers of the video game “Zoo Tycoon.”

The award came with a $20,000 donation to the Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo, which make up Zoo New England.

In 2007, the first Jonathan Gilmour Memorial Scholarship Fund scholarship was awarded to Erica Farrell, then a senior zookeeper at Zoo New England. The award allowed her to participate in a conservation project at the Pandrillus Drill Rehab and Breeding Center in Nigeria.

Farrell became the first of 52 Gilmour fund recipients to date. About 15 awards are handed out each year.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443, dshalhoup@nashua
telegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.