Famed Minnesota DNR biologist Glenn Del Giudice passes away

Following a week-long stay in a hospital, imminent Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) moose and whitetail deer researcher Glenn Del Giudice passed away on December 23, 2022. He was 68, reportedly one week away from retirement.

Glen spent three decades as the Minnesota DNR Deer Project leader in the Forest Wildlife Populations Research Group. In 2012 he accepted the role as the state’s Moose Project leader.

When the moose population crashed in Minnesota in 2006, Glenn’s cutting edge research into what was killing moose was at the forefront. In recent years Glenn was also in charge of filing the annual DNR winter aerial moose survey that estimates the moose population. In addition, he was vital in coming up with Minnesota’s Winter Severity Index, which looked at snow depths and how long deep snow lasted and used that information in part to come up with deer mortality numbers over the winter months.

When he wasn’t in the field, Del Giudice worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology passing his knowledge on to graduate students.

Over the years, Glenn contributed to a half dozen articles or more on moose and whitetail to the Cook County News-Herald. He was great at getting back answers to questions in a quick fashion, and he would take time on the phone to follow up and explain his findings when called.

Here is a snippet from a 2013 article that helps paint a picture of the man and the scientist.

“So far, scientists have learned many new things about how moose live—and die. Just what isn’t known is if they can figure out how to save the remaining moose—if it is possible to save them– before there are no moose left to study. That, said DelGuidice, is why researchers head out into the middle of the forest to bring back a dead moose or two as fast as they can.

“In fact, Del Giudice said twins may have died on Wednesday, June 5, and a crew would be sent to check. He didn’t sound happy when he said it, but his voice had a quiet resolve; they would keep trying to get to the bottom of what is killing Minnesota’s majestic moose. There was a lot of work to be done. A lot more to learn. No promises. But the effort would continue.”

And continue it did. Glenn, who lived in Forest Lake, left behind three grown children.