Professor Ernesto Fattorusso, University of Naples, Italy, passed away on July 7, 2012.

Ernesto Fattorusso was born in Sorrento, Italy. He studied chemistry at the University of Naples, Italy, graduating in 1960 and completing his Libera Docenza in Chemistry of Natural Products in 1967. From 1960 he was an assistant and lecturer at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Naples, before becoming a full Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1975 in the Faculty of Science. In 1980, he moved within the University of Naples to take up a professorship in the Faculty of Pharmacy. Here, he was elected Dean twice (1987–1990 and 1997–2000).

Fattorusso’s research focused on the isolation and structure elucidation of novel organic metabolites produced by marine invertebrates (mainly sponges and ascydians) and algae. He also studied the structure and biogenesis of melanins. Most recently, his research involved compounds isolated from therapeutically active terrestrial plants and marine sponges of the Mediterranean, including immuno-modulating glycolipids with anticancer activity.

• Amphiceramide A and B, Novel Glycosphingolipids from the Marine Sponge Amphimedon compressa,
  Valeria Costantino, Ernesto Fattorusso, Concetta Imperatore, Alfonso Mangoni, Roberta Teta,
  Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2009, 13, 2112–2119.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.200801230
• Terpioside from the Marine Sponge Terpios sp., the First Glycosphingolipid Having an L-Fucofuranose Unit,
  Valeria Costantino, Ernesto Fattorusso, Concetta Imperatore, Alfonso Mangoni, Roberta Teta,
  Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2008, 12, 2130–2134.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.200701220
• Stereostructural Determination by a Synthetic and NMR-Based Approach of Three Oxazinins Isolated from Adriatic Mussels,
  Patrizia Ciminiello, Carmela Dell’Aversano, Ernesto Fattorusso, Martino Forino, Laura Grauso, Federico Umberto Santelia, Luciana Tartaglione, Vassilios I. Moutsos, Emmanuel N. Pitsinos, Elias A. Couladouros,
  Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 32, 5434–5439.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.200700574