Sieburth spent his early career studying birds, then turned his attention to marine microorganisms.
Sieburth was born on 2 September 1927 in Calgary, Alberta, and was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Sieburth left Virginia Tech in 1960 to accept a professorship in oceanography and microbiology at the University of Rhode Island, where he retired in 1991.
[1][2] Sieburth met Janice Fae Boston while she was studying nutrition at Washington State.
John Sieburth died on 7 December 2006 in West Kingston, Rhode Island, from dementia complications.