William Zielinski, age 71, passed away peacefully on Oct. 2, 2026, in Portland, Oregon from complications of Parkinson’s disease.
Bill, as he was known to most, was a loving husband, father, brother, son, friend and mentor whose life was shaped by an insatiable curiosity about the natural world — and a desire to share those wonders with the people he loved. Going on a walk with Bill meant pausing often to identify an unusual shrub, listen in silence to a distant bird’s call, or examine a pair of animal prints in the mud.
Bill had a way of making you slow down, look closer, and notice the beauty in the small things you might otherwise have missed.
He was a patient observer — of the patterns of egrets flying over his backyard, the idiosyncrasies of strangers he passed on the street, and his daughter’s teenage ramblings.
His ability to deeply understand the world around him helped give his life meaning.
Bill was born in Oakland, California on Aug. 29, 1955, but grew up in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, spending as much time as he could outdoors catching insects and observing suburban wildlife.
That curiosity drove him to study biology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, earn a master’s degree in Wildland Resource Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and obtain a Ph.D. in Zoology at North Carolina State University.
Bill embarked on a rewarding career as a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, studying forest carnivores from his base at the Redwood Sciences Lab in Arcata, California. His work made a lasting mark on the field of wildlife ecology and conservation biology – from establishing a framework for forest carnivore conservation that would be referenced by federal agencies to leading a team that recorded the first wolverine sighting in California since the 1920s.
Bill’s achievements were recognized with numerous awards over his nearly 30-year career. But he cared little about the accolades. The joy and bottomless thirst for knowledge he found in his research — particularly the chance to be outdoors observing animals in their natural habitats — was reward enough. The curiosity and generosity he brought to his work inspired countless other researchers in his field.
Bill cared deeply about the people in his life. He brought humor, care, and genuine curiosity to all his relationships. His empathy was a superpower. Bill was the person who could make a stranger feel welcome in a crowded room, using a thoughtful question or a well-timed wisecrack to break the ice.
He was both incredibly strong and deeply vulnerable. Bill navigated life’s challenges with calm resilience, but he was also unafraid to be emotional — sometimes tearing up just seconds into a cheesy TV commercial.
Bill was an avid birder, hiker, musician, racket sport enthusiast, graphite artist, cribbage player, Green Bay Packers fan, and overall goofball.
He and his wife Melissa shared 43 loving years together. The two met on a bird-watching trip in North Carolina, setting the stage for a relationship rooted in their shared love of the natural world. They would spend weekends hiking through Humboldt County and stopping to identify every plant and creature along the way, challenging each other to recall its Latin name. With their daughter Alex, they adventured to Australia, Portugal, Latin America and countless national parks across the United States, always looking for new landscapes to explore.
When not in the wilderness, Melissa and Bill would spend time biking, seeing live music, playing games, spending time with close friends and family, and making each other laugh until they cried.
In 2021, they relocated with their dog Jesse to Portland to be closer to Alex, a journalist to whom Bill had passed on his deep love of the outdoors.
Yet Bill always considered Humboldt County his home. He spent hours helping remove invasive plants along the Hammond Trail in McKinleyville, driving a mobile medical clinic as a volunteer for Open Door Community Health Center, and supporting Melissa’s work leading the HSU Natural History Museum. He loved getting coffee at Muddy Waters, playing racquetball at HealthSPORT, taking walks at the Arcata Marsh, getting dinner with his family at Stars Hamburgers, and gathering each week to catch up with his close group of friends.
Bill is survived by his younger siblings, Christine Clarke, Jeannie Zielinski, and David Zielinski. He maintained a close relationship with each, through long phone calls, memorable fishing trips in the Midwest, adventures in foreign countries, cozy holiday gatherings at their family home in Wisconsin, rowdy hacky sack games, and even a dusty adventure to Burning Man. He was preceded in death by his caring and supportive parents James and Carol Zielinski.
Bill found solace in small, ordinary moments: the first sip of an afternoon cappuccino; the familiar strum of his beloved acoustic guitar; standing in a sunbeam in the redwood forest on a cold day; sitting beneath his backyard apple tree listening to birds.
He lived a full life. And he took not one moment of it for granted.
He’d want you to do the same.
In lieu of a memorial service, Bill’s family invites donations in his memory to Ride to the Wild, a fund established by Bill and Melissa in 2005 to connect Humboldt County children with the natural world through educational field trips. Mail checks with “Ride to the Wild” in the memo line to Humboldt Area Foundation, 363 Indianola Road, Bayside CA 95524. Or donate online:
https://haf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2637