Glen Everett Woolfenden

WOOLFENDEN, Glen Everett, renowned ornithologist and evolutionary biologist, died Tuesday, June 19, 2007, of comp-lications following abdominal surgery. Woolfenden, 77, was inter-nationally known as the world' s expert on FIorida Scrub-Jays. Since February, 1969, Woolfenden had maintained a continuous, intensive study of these endangered birds at Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid, Fla. This project is hailed among the world' s most famous long-term studies of a bird population. Glen lived with his wife, Jan, in Lake Placid, Fla. Woolfenden was a meticulous field biologist. His scrub-jay research involved colorbanding every jay, locating every nest, mapping every territory, and exhaustively censusing every surviving jay each month at Archbold Biological Station since 1971. Through scores of technical and popular articles, he was the first to show that Florida Scrub-Jays live in cooperative, extended-family groups in which young birds remain in the home territory ard help their parents rear the offspring of subsequent years. He documented the Florida Scrub-Jays' strict dependence on stunted, fire-maintained oak scrub, a habitat unique to Florida and now mostly eliminated through agricultural, residential, and commercial development. Woolfenden' s work established the biological basis for the Florida Scrub-Jay being listed on the federal Endangered Species List, and also helped elevate public awareness of the need to protect remnant tracts of oak scrub habitat. Together with John Fitzpatrick, his research collaborator for 35 years, Woolfenden received the 1985 William Brewster Award, the highest research honor bestowed by the American Ornithologists' Union, a professional society for which he served as president from 1988 to 1990. He also won prestigious awards from the International Ornithological Congress, Animal Behavior Society, German Ornithological Society, Cooper Ornithological Society, Wilson Ornithological Society, and Florida 0rnithological Society. Woolfenden was born in 1930, in Elizabeth, N.J. and fell in love with birds as a high school student in Westfield, N.J. After graduating from Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J. Woolfenden attended Cornell University as an R.O.T.C. student, receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in 1953. He received his master' s degree from Kansas University, and his Ph.D. in 1959, from the University of Florida. In 1960, Woolfenden became a charter faculty member of the newly established University of South Florida, where he won numerous teaching and research awards, including Distinguished Research Professor, before his retirement in 1999. Post-retirement, he continued as Research Associate at Archbold Biological Station, reporting to work virtually every day to continue his research. Lively, gregarious, athletic and witty, Glen led a generation of ornithologists who established birds as important indicators of environmental well-being. He was a formidable presence at social gatherings and faculty meetings, and was a popular and effective public speaker. Glen' s unbridled enthusiasm and charisma, from college through retirement and beyond, inspired countless students and friends to devote their lives to the study of birds and nature. He was a demanding mentor, and many of the students Woolfenden advised during his academic career have become influential research scientists at universities, museums and research centers across the United States and overseas. His dedication to long-term field studies helped establish the importance of such projects in ecology, both at the Archbold Biological Station and elsewhere around the world. Woolfenden is survived by his wife, Janet Ezzelle Woolfenden; three children Kim Woolfenden-Kaam, Scot Woolfenden and Lisa Woolfenden Coker; three grandchildren, Michael, Woolfenden, Grant Buckner and Faith Coker; and a healthy, well-mariaged population of hundreds of Florida Scrub-Jays at Archbold Biological station. Each jay bears a unique combination of colored leg-rings carefully applied by Glen in order to document its individual life. His study, and its influences, will continue indefinitely. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Scrub Preservation Fund, Archbold Biological Station, P.O. Box 2057, Lake, Placid, FL 33862. Arrangements entrusted to the Scott Funeral Home, Lake Placid, Fla., (863) 465-4134.