We would like to share sad news with the WSCS members. Our friend, Francesco Fontana, passed away a few days ago after a long fight with a terrible disease. Francesco was one of the pioneers of sturgeon cytogenetics. He worked on several species and hybrids and opened the way to sturgeon genetic studies in Italy. He was not only a colleague and a guide for those of us who had the honour and the luck to work with him but was also a good and generous friend.

We will miss him, and we would like to offer our condolences to his wife Patrizia and his sons Alessandro and Giovanni.

Francesco’s main contributions to sturgeon cytogenetics can be found at the following webpage in which, for each sturgeon species, Francesco was collecting the more relevant papers published by himself and by colleagues around the world.

http://www.unife.it/dipartimento/biologia-evoluzione/progetti/geneweb