In 1927 at the age of 13, Guglielmo Montagna, whose father was a skilled blacksmith, emigrated from Italy with his family to Buffalo, New York.
[3] From 1945 to 1948 he was an assistant professor at the Long Island College of Medicine (now part of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University).
[3] In 1975 SDI established the annual William Montagna Lecture[3] and he was honored with the Ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana.
[1] At the University of Minnesota's Department of Medicine, he gave the 1975 Wesley Spink Memorial Lecture, entitled Non-human primates in biomedical research.
Montagna was a family friend of fellow Italian-American Antonella Tosti whom he inspired in her youth to become a notable dermatologist as well.