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Seabird biologist and Memorial University professor emeritus Bill Montevecchi died over the weekend.
Montevecchi spent his decades-long career researching seabird behaviour, their response to environmental change and conservation biology, among other topics.
According to his obituary, posted on the Caul’s Funeral Home website, he died Saturday at the age of 80.
“Bill’s life followed the rhythm of the sea — his years were marked by the arrival of spring, the return of birds to the islands and cliffs, and the changing sea that became his life’s passion,” his obituary reads.
It added he taught at Memorial for more than 40 years, and in that time he mentored numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and researchers.
Montevecchi often spoke to CBC News regarding environmental concerns impacting wildlife, like the threat of oil spills to advising people not to feed birds in case it could spread avian flu amongst the gathered birds.
Speaking with Land & Sea in the summer of 2024, Montevecchi said he was still keeping busy with his lab and being in the field with his team of students. He also spoke about how much he loved his work and that he wanted to continue this work for as long as he could.
“It’s just really enriching so I just feel happy to do it,” he told Land & Sea. “I’ll keep doing it ’til I can’t do it. We might be getting close,” Montevecchi said at the time, laughing.
“So far, I’m hobbling along.”
During his career, Montevecchi’s research was recognized on the world stage.
In 2020, he was ranked in the top one per cent of the world’s marine biologists and ranked in the top two per cent of the world’s top scientists by Stanford University.
An American, several decades ago Montevecchi left Massachusetts behind and relocated to Newfoundland, where he taught at Memorial University.
He received his bachelor from Boston’s Northeastern University before heading to Tulane University for his master’s of science and then earning his PhD from Rutgers University Newark.
He told CBC Radio’s On the Go in October 2025 that as a graduate student he briefly worked with chimpanzees and considered going to Africa to study with the late Jane Goodall.
Montevecchi’s obituary said there are plans to establish a scholarship in his name.
“Bill’s work lives on through his ongoing research programs at the university, the protected seabird colonies he led to establishment, and in the countless people who now see the ocean with a deeper appreciation,” said his obituary.
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