He graduated from Harvard University studying history and literature in 1949.
He served in the United States Army during World War II in the artillery in Germany.
He has a son, Sam Glinn, of New York City, New York and sister, Norma Glinn Madden of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
His work has been the subject of many art museum exhibits.
Flew to Havana, Cuba on New Year's Eve 1958, after hearing that the dictator Batista had fled the country. A group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro was about to march into Havana. Glinn was able to get close enough to Castro to take compelling images of the rebel leader in his Army fatigues during the first days of the country's upheaval.