Darrin Michael McGrath was born in St. John’s in 1966, son of Mary McGrath (Smart) and the late Patrick McGrath. He attended St. Bonaventure’s College and Brother Rice High School, before earning a B.A. and an M.A. from Memorial University of Newfoundland. His Master’s degree was partially funded through an Orville Erickson Memorial Scholarship from the Canadian Wildlife Federation and from a research grant from the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Memorial University.Since 1992 he has taught sociology at Memorial University of Newfoundland and at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook. He has published several academic papers on environmental issues such as poaching, wildlife laws, and privatization of the outdoors. Darrin has been active in a number of environmental and community groups, and he is an avid outdoorsman, who enjoys canoeing, angling, and hunting.