By Coral Gables Gazette staff
The Rotary Club of Coral Gables honored two of South Florida’s most enduring civic institutions April 30 at its annual Martin Hughes Citizen of the Year luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables — recognizing Ron Magill, the wildlife ambassador and communications director who has been the public face of Zoo Miami for 46 years, and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty, the Coral Gables-founded real estate firm that has served South Florida communities since 1964.
More than 40 attendees gathered to mark the occasion, continuing a tradition the Rotary Club established in 2006 in honor of the late Martin Hughes, a beloved Coral Gables Rotarian and civic leader who proposed the award shortly before his death and lived to see its first recipient honored.
46 years of making South Florida look at the world differently
Ronald Norman Magill was born on February 28, 1960. His family relocated to a five-acre property in the Redland area of Miami-Dade County in 1972 when he was 12 years old, and the proximity to what would become Zoo Miami shaped the rest of his life. He dropped out of the University of Florida right before graduating to become a zookeeper at Crandon Park Zoo — starting at a salary of $9,900 — viewing the role as a crucial stepping stone to working with exotic animals professionally.
That decision, which he has described as the best of his life, launched a career that has made him one of the most recognized wildlife communicators in the United States. He gradually became lead zookeeper, senior zookeeper, and then assistant curator, eventually rising to communications director. He has won five Emmy Awards for his work on nature documentaries, serves as a Nikon Ambassador, and has appeared regularly on Good Morning America, the Today Show, and the Dan LeBatard Show, as well as for more than 25 years on the Spanish-language variety program Sábado Gigante.
But what Magill describes as the achievement he is most proud of is not the television appearances or the Emmy Awards. In 2015 he established the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment at the Zoo Miami Foundation, which is now valued at more than $3 million and provides tens of thousands of dollars annually to conservation projects both locally and globally. The endowment is structured to provide conservation funding in perpetuity — a legacy that will outlast his time at the zoo by decades.
The recognition comes at a moment of transition. In February, after 46 remarkable years, Magill announced his retirement from his Miami-Dade County employee position, with his last day on May 10. He will continue as Goodwill Ambassador for Zoo Miami, focusing on conservation through the endowment and the Zoo Miami Foundation.
At Thursday’s luncheon, Magill spoke about his 46 years as a zookeeper and conservationist, telling attendees that the honor belonged not to him alone but to all the people who have worked so hard to make Zoo Miami and his foundation so important to South Florida and to the world. It was a characteristically generous response from a man who has spent four decades insisting that he is, as he has often put it, the least valuable person at the zoo.
Six decades of Coral Gables roots and community investment
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty was founded in Coral Gables in 1964 with a vision to deliver an exceptional and personalized real estate experience. Over six decades it has grown from a local boutique firm into a globally connected organization, now part of HomeServices of America and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network — one of the most respected real estate brands in the world.
While EWM’s reach under the direction of its CEO Ron Shuffield now spans continents, the firm has maintained deep roots in the communities where it began. Its charitable partnerships include the Coral Gables Community Foundation, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, United Way, Chapman Partnership, and the Sunshine Kids — a roster that reflects a sustained commitment to South Florida’s most pressing civic and human service needs.
For the Rotary Club, EWM’s recognition continues a pattern established in 2020 when the club expanded the Martin Hughes Award to include corporate and institutional honorees alongside individuals. Previous corporate recipients have included Bill Ussery Automotive, Bacardi International, the Coral Gables Community Foundation, Waste Management, and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
The award and its legacy
The Martin Hughes Citizen of the Year Award was first presented in 2006, proposed by Hughes himself — a quiet, thoughtful man known for his kindness, wit, and dedication to both Coral Gables and the Rotary Club. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly after proposing the idea, he lived to see its first recipient honored. The club renamed the award in his memory the following year.
This year’s honorees join a roster that includes some of Coral Gables’ most distinguished civic figures — among them former U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Judge Steve Leifman, Dr. Pedro Greer, and Mitchell Kaplan, who received the award in 2025.
The Rotary Club of Coral Gables was founded in 1946 and remains one of South Florida’s most active civic organizations, dedicated to service above self. For more information or a complete list of past recipients, visit rotarycoralgables.org.
