Glenn A. Wood, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, loving husband to Denise Clinton and adoring father to Aidan, Jared, and Ethan Wood soared onward on May 2, 2026. He was 67 years young.
Born on March 13, 1959, to devoted parents Jean E. (Berry) and Richard M. Wood, Glenn grew up in the woods of Mystic, Connecticut where trees, plants, and wildlife captured his imagination. He spent summers at his family’s camp on the waters of Point Judith Pond in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. There he blissfully filled his hours with fishing, sailing, quahog and scallop harvesting, and tidal exploration.
Early on, Glenn was deeply curious about all that he could observe, particularly bird life, wind patterns, glacial outcroppings, and snowfall accumulation. This youthful love and reverence for the natural world guided and inspired him his entire life.
In the 9th grade this passion earned him Eagle Scout status after spending the prior summer creating the first detailed mapping of important natural and cultural features within Bluff Point State Park, an 806-acre coastal peninsula in Groton, Connecticut. His painstakingly accurate mylar mapping (long before GPS technology) informed the park’s future conservation plans. On one of Glenn’s last hikes, fittingly in Bluff Point, he saved his companions from exhaustion by remembering an undetected shortcut trail that got everyone home in time for sunset.
An accomplished and tenacious student-athlete, Glenn racked up numerous awards in the classroom and on the field. An honors student, he was also the starting tight end on his 1976 Fitch Senior High School football team which, after a perfect season, won the Connecticut LL championship and were ranked #1 in the state and #10 in the nation. Competitive to his core, Glenn’s lifelong athletic path included college football, volleyball and ultimate frisby, skateboarding, skiing, windsurfing, biking, and tennis. Naturally talented (and often embarrassingly feisty) on the court, he won his neighborhood tennis tournament multiple times. He often remarked that whatever he lacked in talent, he made up for with sharp elbows.
Following in the footsteps of his parents, Glenn graduated from University of Rhode Island in 1981, majoring in natural resource sciences with a specialization in wildlife and wetlands ecology. He then spent three grueling but magical years at Vermont Law School (VLS) where he earned a J.D. in 1984, leaving those beloved hills with new legal reasoning skills, great friends, and a fabulous telemark ski turn. In 1985, he completed his formal education with an LL.M in environmental law from George Washington University Law School.
Glenn was an exceptional lawyer whose career spanned four decades. In 1987, he began practicing at McGregor, Shea, & Doliner, one of the largest environmental law firms in New England. There he reunited with his dear VLS friend, Bob Fasanella. In 1994, Glenn and Bob established their own boutique environmental law firm, Fasanella and Wood, on State Street in Boston, practicing together for nearly a decade before joining Rubin Rudman. Over the last 23 years at Rubin Rudman, Glenn built one of the most respected environmental law practices in New England. He was a long-time partner, Chair of Rubin Rudman’s Environmental and Land Use group, a member of its Executive Committee, and an exacting and generous mentor to many associates.
Early in his career, Glenn chaired the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Environmental Litigation Subcommittee and was a driving force behind the Boston Bar Association’s Environmental Justice program, which later became the nonprofit Alternatives for Community and Environment.
Building a committed presence in the broader environmental and wetlands protection community, Glenn served on the Board of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions, was active on the New England Environmental Business Council’s Ocean and Coastal Committee, and devoted years of leadership to the Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists – including a six-year tenure as President and subsequent leadership of its Government Affairs Committee. He also sat on the Ipswich Conservation Commission for over 10 years, served as Ipswich’s representative on Eight Towns and the Great Marsh committee, and was a Board of Directors Trustee for the Cuvilly Arts and Earth Center.
Amid these professional achievements, Glenn always prioritized the people, places, and adventures he treasured most. At the center of everything was his 37-year loving partnership with Denise. A marriage fueled by a mutual gravitation towards the impractical, they found countless heartfelt and zany ways to celebrate life and love. And it was pure Glenn magic to see him embrace endless athletic, landscaping, cooking, traveling, and music-loving passions. He never missed a high school or collegiate soccer match or track meet, a school play, a moonlit x-country ski with Denise, a Premier League match with his boys, a fishing excursion with his brother, a reggae show with his sister, an opportunity to make clams casino for his mom, a concert, cocktail or ski day with friends and family. He spent happy hours making beach plum jam, camping in the dunes, cooking Jamaican stews, holding a juniors tennis clinic, chasing stripers, hanging back to observe and critique his sons’ ski turns from the top of the trail, and pruning trees into oblivion (always leaving behind a wake of trimmings for the boys to clean up). There was never a plate ungarnished, a glass unfilled, a Chelsea, Hamilton, or Colby goal uncelebrated, a Claremont McKenna x-country race uncheered, an osprey nest undetected, or a wind direction unobserved.
Glenn and Denise loved gatherings, combining circles of friends and family, at music venues and athletic events, over epic dinner parties, and around gigantic bonfires. Their two families share wonderful holiday and vacation traditions--a big, bonded (and often boisterous) crowd.
Over the moon about his boys, Glenn would talk about their educational and career accomplishments, sports highlights, travel adventures, boating excursions, cooking experiments, and geopolitical insights endlessly. He was so proud to say that Aidan, Jared, and Ethan are capable, thoughtful world citizens.
Besides his mother, wife, and three sons, Glenn is survived by his sister, June Cahill, brother Craig and wife, Carolyn Wood, mother-in-law, Joan Clinton, sisters-in-law Jennifer and husband Richard Montero and Wendy and husband Peter Jannelle, and many cherished nieces and nephews.
Glenn cared deeply and gave mightily. He was the mayor, motivator, and quartermaster; we are filled with awe and gratitude for this exceptional human, and we miss him dearly.
Glenn's celebration service will be at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 705 Hale Street, Beverly Farms, on Thursday, May 28th at 11:00 AM. All are welcome. The service will be live streamed at youtube.com/@stjohnsbeverly.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in Glenn's honor to:
Ipswich Youth Soccer https://gofund.me/8c2f9af23
Ipswich Youth Soccer (IYS) is a non-profit, community-based volunteer organization dedicated to fostering a love of soccer in Ipswich children, their families and the larger community. IYS provides opportunities for children to play in both recreational and competitive settings. Our members learn the importance of teamwork and determination.
The Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team capeannvernalpondteam.org
The Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team is a nonprofit organization dedicated to vernal pond conservation and education since 1990. Our focus is vernal ponds. We inspire the local community to become active and responsible stewards of wild places.