Fortunato Brocato; Caught 1st Live Whale
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LOS ANGELES — Fortunato Brocato, who was credited with being the first person to bring a whale into captivity and who invented techniques to stock a menagerie of undersea life for Marineland, has died. He was 92.
Brocato, who lived in the San Pedro coastal area for 75 years, died Wednesday.
Brocato, a fisherman, and Ken Norris were hired to stock and run the marine park on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1954. At its peak, the park drew 1 million visitors a year, but it deteriorated and lost patronage, closing in 1987.
Brocato became the park’s vice president and its first marine life collector, hunting everything from sawfish to killer whales.
In 1957, Brocato became the first person to capture a whale for captivity. He invented a special net to lasso a pilot whale, which was named Bubbles.
A Mass is scheduled Monday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Pedro, with entombment at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.
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