Ex-Cypress Gardens Chief to Head Arboreta Dept.
Kenneth C. Smith, former president of Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Fla., was named Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors to head the Los Angeles County Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens.
Smith, 58, will be paid $90,000 a year to run the county arboretum in Arcadia, Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge, South Coast Botanic Gardens in Palos Verdes and the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills.
Smith worked 40 years at Cypress Gardens, a 223-acre park that has 1.2 million visitors a year. He moved to La Jolla last September was setting up his own business when he learned of the county job. When he begins work June 3, he will be facing proposed cuts in the department’s $4.4-million budget.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
