There became notably less energy, intelligence and charisma in the wildlife profession and the entire world with the loss of Dr. Guy A. Baldassarre in late August. Guy passed away peacefully at his home in Tully, New York, from complications due to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the age of 59.

Guy was a Distinguished Teaching Professor at SUNY's College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) where he taught for 25 years. Guy graduated from the University of Maine?Orono (BS), University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (MS) and Texas Tech University (Ph.D). He was an Assistant Professor of Wildlife Science at Auburn University prior to joining the faculty at ESF in 1987. His academic specialties were wildlife ecology and ornithology.

Guy, however, had two other professional specialties. First was his teaching skill and rapport with the many hundreds of students he mentored as coordinator of the Wildlife Science undergraduate major. Upon learning of Guy's death, one of his students wrote that he was "the kindest, funniest and most inspiring professor I ever had?. He was vibrant and hilarious, full of life, wisdom and infectious optimism. He was an incredible conservationist." Second, besides being a touchstone educator, Guy was an excellent researcher. In 2006, he published the second edition of Waterfowl Ecology and Management, a masterful opus on waterfowl science, first published in 1994 and coauthored with Dr. Eric G. Bolen.

In 2009, the Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), in conjunction with new publisher Johns Hopkins Press (JHP), approached Guy about taking on the enormous and onerous task of a fourth edition of the famed Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America (DG&S), initially written by Francis H. Kortright and first published in 1942. That first edition went through more than a dozen printings before a substantially revised edition was prepared in 1976 by "Mr. Waterfowl," Frank C. Bellrose. The second edition sold more than 500,000 copies, but was deemed substantially outdated only a few years later. A third edition was completed by Dr. Bellrose in 1981, and the work's popularity continued. In the mid-1990s, WMI invited Bellrose to begin a fourth edition, which Frank readily agreed to do, even though his health was declining. Despite substantial investment in a new edition, the effort faltered, particularly after Dr. Bellrose's death in 2005. Repeated and intensive efforts by Frank's assistants to complete the task came to naught when the accumulated data were reviewed critically but fairly by experts within the waterfowl management community.

WMI and JHP refused to abandon the project. Eventually, because of Guy's capabilities and credentials, he was offered the authorship of the fourth edition and license to revise and restructure the book's content and illustrations. Understanding fully the time commitment involved, Guy took but a few days to agree to the task. He began work almost immediately and what he produced in the way of new material was all but staggering.

"I was astounded by the thoroughness of Guy's research on the individual species of waterfowl and the speed with which he completed initial drafts of the edition's various sections," said Richard McCabe, retired WMI Executive Vice President. "And, those drafts were remarkably well organized and composed."

Guy's health waxed and waned throughout the time of his work on DG&S, but he managed to continue to produce quality copy and an optimistic outlook for the new edition.

"In your life, you may meet a few people who inspire you because they have that rare combination of tenacity, intelligence and kindness. Guy was one such person," stated Dr. Vincent Burke, Executive Editor of JHP, "a truly larger-than-life persona who took on the Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America revision, with a serious, creative zeal that most of us could only hope to match. Over and over, he said to me, 'We need to get this right.' That message was our guide not budgets, not time lines simply the need to get it right."

As it was for Francis Kortright and Frank Bellrose, DG&S will be a tribute to Guy Baldassarre. To be released in early Fall next year, the fourth edition's contribution to the scientific literature and waterfowl conservation will be an important part of his legacy. But the more enduring legacy will be the professional contributions of Guy's students and all others who certainly benefited from their association with him.