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Paterniani was born in the city of São Paulo on February 17, 1928, the son of Italian immigrants. Early in life, he and his family moved to Piracicaba. On arriving, his parents took over a grocery store. After going through primary, secondary and high school courses in public schools, in 1947 he entered the local Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ) – of the University of São Paulo (USP), in order to study agronomy. Throughout his studies he was always interested in Genetics. He graduated in 2 place in 1950. In 1951, he received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, as part of special training for recently graduated agronomists in the Mexican Agricultural Program with Dr. E.J. Wellhausen. This was when he began his research on corn improvement. In 1952, he was hired as assistant of the 19 Chair in Cytology and General Genetics, which, in 1970, was transformed into the Department of Genetics of ESALQ/USP, where he stayed until retirement in 1983 as a Full Professor. He dedicated his entire life to the genetic improvement of corn. In 1954, he submitted his doctor’s thesis “Studies on Native Corn Races” under the advisory of Prof. Friedrich Gustav Brieger. He developed his post-doc studies (19571958) at the University of Nebraska with Prof. John H. Lonquist, and at Iowa State University with Prof. G.F. Sprague. His professor thesis “Interracial Crosses of Corn” was submitted in 1962 at ESALQ. He became full professor in 1975. After retiring in 1983, Prof. Paterniani continued working as a consultant and assistant until his death. He was outstanding as a teacher of Genetics and Plant Breeding in undergraduate and graduate courses, where he was respected and admired by all his students, having to his merit facility in communication, excellent didactics and a deep scientific knowledge of Genetics and Breeding. He stimulated his students to discuss controversial subjects in the classroom, these debates often extending beyond the specified time. Paterniani took an active part in seminars of the Department of Genetics, in constant debate with other professors, mainly with Prof. Marcílio Dias, when polemic aspects of Genetics and Breeding came under discussion. This exchange of opinions awakened the students’ interest, inciting their active participation in lectures and seminars. His participation in Congresses and Symposia was also outstanding, and even in other scientific areas, he always took active part with questions, animating the procedures in a positive manner. He orientated 33 students in science-initiation, 30 master dissertations and 13 doctors’ theses in Genetics and Breeding graduate courses at ESALQ. The main characteristic of his teaching and research activities was always to be working constantly and persistently with corn (from 1952 to 2009). It was through this persistence and by always seeking to perfect his techniques through innovation that, doubtlessly, he managed to contribute in divulging the name of the Department of Genetics, ESALQ as a center of reference in Breeding, both in Brazil and abroad. In his breeding activities, Paterniani did not produce hybrids of inbred lines. His sphere of action was concentrated on recurrent selection, aimed at increasing the frequency of favorable alleles in open pollinated or panmictic populations. In this way he produced improved varieties as well as superior intervarietal hybrids. Later on, this material served as source for inbred lines, used in programs of private seed companies. In the early years in Brazil the improvement of corn was not an easy task. Genetic material from abroad was not adapted to local conditions. Furthermore, native types conGenetics and Molecular Biology, 32, 3, v-vii (2009) Copyright © 2009, Sociedade Brasileira de Genética. Printed in Brazil www.sbg.org.br

Ernesto Paterniani (1928-2009): a life devoted to Genetics and Breeding