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Glenn Roderick Ryder was both a naturalist and artist. He was born on January 31, 1938 in Vancouver B.C.. His early years were quite difficult. Growing up in an impoverished family, Ryder was moved to an orphanage at age four and subsequently placed into foster care until age 16. During these tumultuous years, Ryder found solace in nature, starting to record his observations at the age of five.

Ryder dropped out of school in Grade 10 and dedicated his life to exploring the wilderness. He recorded over a million sightings during his seventy-plus years of fieldwork. Ryder’s work established conservation priorities, noted population trends, and discovered new distributional and behavioural records. His observations have aided researchers interpreting the effects of climate change.

Ryder was a member of both the Langley Field Naturalists and the Central Valley Naturalists and worked closely with the Langley Environmental Partners Society and Metro Vancouver Regional Parks. During his field expeditions, Ryder built many trails, including the Ryder Trail (also known as the Sumas Grind, a popular destination for fitness enthusiasts) on Sumas Mountain.

A talented artist, Ryder’s paintings were a major contribution to the four-volume "The Birds of British Columbia" reference series, originally published by University of British Columbia Press in 1990.

Ryder died on October 2, 2013 at the age of 75. After his death, two of his colleagues, R. Wayne Campbell and Phillip S. Henderson, wrote Ryder’s biography titled "An Old-School Naturalist - Glenn Roderick Ryder (1938-2013)." This biography was published by the Biodiversity Centre for Wildlife Studies as part of their "Wildlife Afield" series [10(2):84-256, 2013; http://www.wildlifebc.org/pdfs/RyderSmFile.pdf]. Ryder never published as a sole author but has greatly contributed to many wildlife publications across Canada.