Ian Alexander MCLAREN

1931 - 2020

IAN ALEXANDER MCLAREN Marine biologist, Professor Emeritus and renowned birder Ian Alexander McLaren died at the age of 89 years, on July 29, 2020 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after a brief stay in hospital with heart and breathing complications. Ian was born in Montréal on January 11, 1931 to Alexander Lithgow McLaren, a painter and commercial artist, and Christine (née Tabrett) McLaren, a schoolteacher. Ian had two sisters, Joyce (1926-2017) and Lois (1935-2000). Ian spent a dozen summers researching Arctic animals prior to joining Dalhousie University's Department of Biology in 1966. A lifelong advocate for birding, conservation, and biodiversity, with considerable research contributions in marine biology and ecology, Ian was always unfailingly generous with his time for people in all walks of life, and widely admired for his affability and good humour. His numerous graduate students during four decades arrived from all over the world, many working on the wildlife of Sable Island. Ian was the first President of the Canadian Nature Federation (now Nature Canada) in 1972, edited the Nova Scotia Bird Society's quarterly publication for many years, and was instrumental in establishing the Sable Island Preservation Trust and Nova Scotia Nature Trust. Ian will be best-known to many Nova Scotians for his regular appearances on CBC Radio answering listeners' bird identification questions through the 1990s and early 2000s. Early studies at McGill University saw him spending summers in Arctic marine and field research while completing BSc and MSc degrees. Ian was an extensive Arctic traveler up to the mid-1960s. He met his wife Bernice (née Orchard) in Montreal between trips to the North, before they married in her hometown of Miami Manitoba, in October 1956. She joined him as a research assistant when they spent the following summer at Ogak Lake on Baffin Island. Ian completed his PhD at Yale University, while continuing to travel as far north as Ellesmere Island. Moving back to Montreal in 1960, Ian taught at McGill for several years, but was lured to Halifax and Dalhousie University in 1966. He recognized this corner of our land as a birder's paradise, as well as a nexus of marine biology, with a growing research faculty and proximity to many island ecosystems, in a far milder climate than the Arctic. Here, he continued his work, publishing more than 100 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters even after his official retirement. Ian devoted most of his efforts supporting dozens of graduate students and field research, while also teaching biology to thousands of undergraduate students, until his compulsory retirement in 1996. His career was recognized with several prestigious prizes, including the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee medals, the American Birding Association's prestigious Ludlow Griscom Award for Outstanding Contributions in Regional Ornithology, and most recently Nature Canada's Douglas H. Pimlott Award for lifetime achievements in conservation. Through a generous private donation, the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University established a graduate bursary in Ian's name in 2018. Ian will be sorely missed by those who knew him over the years, and by his many long-time friends in the birding community, who prize his synoptic guide All the Birds of Nova Scotia (2012), and treasured his companionship during Christmas Bird Counts among other 'twitching' adventures. Most of all, memories of his loving and dedicated spirit will be forever cherished by his surviving family: Bernice, to whom he was married for nearly 64 years; children Andrew, James, and Mary; and grandchildren Arthur, Lucas, Jacob, Oren, and Hermione. The family thanks the residents and staff of The Berkeley Halifax and Gladstone for their kindness over the past two years, and the staff of 6.1 at the Halifax Infirmary for the compassionate care Ian received. At his request, there will be no funeral service; a celebration of his life will be planned for a future date. As Ian had many interests, donations in his memory may be made to the Nova Scotia Bird Society, Nova Scotia Nature Trust, or a charity of your choice.