Prominent P.E.I. biologist and environmentalist Daryl Guignion dies in Charlottetown

Daryl Guignion, a retired UPEI biology professor and environmental champion, died in Charlottetown on Monday.

Born in 1942 in Rosebridge, in the Gaspé region of Quebec, Guignion had to leave home for Halifax to finish high school, which was not available in his home town. He became the first member of his family to earn a university degree.

He did not stop there. Guignion earned a masters degree and was offered a position in the biology department at St. Dunstan's University, which became the University of Prince Edward Island following an an amalgamation with Prince of Wales College in 1969.

He taught there more than 40 years, retiring in 2008. He is remembered in particular for his field trips: snowshoeing, canoeing and hiking through P.E.I.'s old growth hardwoods, estuaries and sand dune ecosystems.

Guignion credited Prof. Hinrich Harries of Mount Allison University with instilling in him a wholistic view of the environment. He tried to instill this in his students by having them lie on the beach at the Conway Sand Hills, close their eyes, and listen to the waves and the birds to fully experience and appreciate the beauty of the natural world around them.

'Very inspiring'

"It was a very enjoyable class... he was very keen, very inspiring," said P.E.I. Sen. Diane Griffin, who was one of Guignion's first students when he began teaching at St. Dunstan's. She said the idea of ecology as a field of study was brand new at the time.

"There's a lot of people who were influenced by his teaching, and more indirectly by working with him on projects, who have gone on to magnify his influence because of what they learned from him."

He was involved in the creation of the Island Nature Trust, the adjunct of the P.E.I. National Park at Greenwich, and the Morell River Conservation Zone.

Guignion remained a prominent figure following his retirement. Soon after he took change of a group of private-sector and government groups dedicated to protecting P.E.I. salmon. More recently, he led the restoration of the Clyde River during the construction of the Cornwall bypass.

Guignion is survived by his wife Rosie MacFarlane, six children, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

The family is asking for donations to the Island Nature Trust or the Daryl Guignion and Ian MacQuarrie Graduate Scholarship in Science at UPEI.

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