He was educated in Truro, Nova Scotia, graduating from Colchester Counter Academy in 1956. Following graduation he attended the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, now Dalhousie University, prior to attending McGill University, Montreal, P.Q., where he graduated with a B.S. degree in 1960. Later that year, he enrolled in the graduate school of the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, receiving an M.S. degree in 1962. That fall he entered a doctoral program in the Agronomy Department of the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, and completed his PhD requirements in 1967. He joined the staff of the department of Plant and Soil Sciences of the University of Maine in the fall of 1967 as an Assistant Professor. His responsibilities included teaching several plant science courses, conducting research, and directing graduate students in the basic physiology of the potato. During the final 12 years of his career, he taught and developed a field research program in turfgrass science, establishing the University of Maine as an official site for the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, based in Beltsville, MD. He spent 39 years at the University of Maine, retiring in 2006 as a Professor of Agronomy and Cooperating Professor of Botany.

He was predeceased by his parent and brothers, A. Bruce Langille and James E. Langille. He is survived by his wife, Dolores Langille of Orono; son, Jonathan Langille; daughter-in-law, Severine Imbert de Smirnoff; and granddaughter, Emmeline, all of Boston, MA.