In memoriam Professor Ana Zlata Štefanac (1934-2019) The sad news of the demise of Professor Ana Zlata Štefanac reached me on a busy Monday morning on March 18, 2019. She passed away some time during the preceding weekend in her Zagreb home. Prof. Ana Zlata Štefanac, PhD was a Croatian scientist and a Full Professor at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, who retired in 2004. Professor Štefanac was born Ana Zlata Uđbinac on De- cember 6, 1934 in Zagreb, where she completed all her lev- els of education. She finished her undergraduate studies in biology in 1959, received her MSc degree in 1964 and PhD in 1967 under the mentorship of Professor and Academi- cian Davor Miličić (1915-1993). She worked as a teaching assistant at the Department of Biology from 1960 and lat- er on advanced to the ranks of Assistant Professor (1972), Associate Professor (1978) and Full Professor (1984). From her early days at the University of Zagreb, she was involved in teaching practical courses in botany and plant anatomy. As she advanced in her career, she lectured more and gave fewer practical instructions. Nevertheless, she always relied on the power of practical examples in teaching. Her students remember her insisting on meticulous preparation of slides containing plant anatomical structures, correctly depicting and describing them in their own hand. No discrepancy be- tween the objects seen under the microscope and student notebook descriptions could escape her attention. This was part of her strategy for motivating students to gain deeper insight into plants structures and functions. Her teaching methods were classical and today would be called old fash- ioned. However, they were efficient and produced more than a passing impression in the student’s mind. Although Professsor Štefanac was a devoted teacher, her real passion was research. When Prof. Miličić started gather- ing a team of young collaborators for his pioneering work on plant viruses, she was the first to join in as early as in 1959. This was the time of establishing the laboratory and build- ing capacities needed for the research. Being very practical and energetic, Prof. Štefanac was closely involved in pro- curing the laboratory equipment, organizing the building of an additional experimental greenhouse and establishing the unit for producing plant virus antisera in rabbits. Those were infrastructural prerequisites for the research projects result- ing in many scientific papers, as well as in undergraduate, master and doctoral theses for students all over Yugoslavia. Prof. Štefanac’s MSc research focused on the Turnip yellow mosaic virus and her PhD enlarged the scope of the research to include other viruses of cruciferous hosts, thus directing her future interests towards plant virus infections and their cytopathological effects. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the time in which postdoctoral specializations were neither required nor easily available for scientists in Croatia, Prof. Štefanac did two of them in renowned virological laboratories. The first one was at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (Inver- gowrie, Dundee) where she stayed for 13 months thanks toa British Council scholarship. The second one was at the De- partment of Plant Pathology of the University of California in Davis where she was a Fulbright scholar for 11 months. Working with eminent experts in the field, and mastering new methods at these prestigious institutions enabled her to advance and successfully disseminate her research. One of the most important papers she co-authored investigated the role of mitochondria in the establishment of inclusions formed by the Tobacco rattle virus in the cells of experimen- tal plant Nicotiana clevelandii (Harrison et al., 1970). The paper on cell inclusions of Holmes’ ribgrass virus (Miličić et al., 1969) falls into the same category of papers drawing very much international attention as one of the early stud- ies describing pathogenic effects of plant viruses at the cel- lular level. In addition, Prof. Štefanac left her mark in the field describing and characterizing, biologically and molecu- larly, numerous plant virus species and strains. Her distinc- tive handwriting is easily discerned in the lists of plant virus isolates collected over the years as a part of our laboratory’s collection. This bears witness to the amount of biological assays she performed with plant viruses during her career. Professor Štefanac was a member of the Society for Gen- eral Microbiology, the Association of Applied Biologists and the International Society for Horticultural Science. She at- tended numerous international and national conferences, published papers in the most important plant pathology and virology international journals like the Journal of Gener- al Virology, Virology, Annals of Applied Biology, Phytopa- thologische Zeitschrift (now Journal of Phytopathology) and Protoplasma. Most of them are still highly relevant in these fields. Nonetheless, she, as well as her colleagues from the same laboratory, did not refrain from publishing in jour- nals that had a more local character like Mikrobiologija, Agronomski glasnik and, at that time, Acta Botanica Croat- ica. She considered her papers published in the latter highly ACTA BOT. CROAT. 78 (2), 2019 S5 IN MEMORIAM relevant and often said that her most important papers were those published in Acta. She and her peers were very good researchers and prolific writers, contributing significantly to the international status and quality of this journal. Profes- sor A. Z. Štefanac was not only an author published in but also served on the editorial board of Acta Botanica Croatica from 1982 until 2008. I crossed paths with Prof. Štefanac in 1992 as an MSc stu- dent in the laboratory. Even though she was not one of my lecturers during previous studies or my mentor in the fol- lowing years, she was a highly appreciated senior colleague, a practical guide to the inner workings of the laboratory as well as somebody on whose help and expertise I could al- ways rely. She performed her duties with efficiency, thor- oughness and pride. Her honesty, dedication and fairness were as much a part of her moral fibre as of her research and teaching. Students described her as tough but just. As co- workers, we saw other aspects of her personality too. She was an excellent baker, cook, interested in gardening and fruit cultivation. Not a birthday or a birth of a baby in the group passed without her baking an old-fashioned full-flavoured cake. As a member of the post-World War II generation, she did not let anything go to waste. She practiced recycling be- fore it became a modern concept for a sustainable way of life. Grounded and direct as she was, I am sure she would have described it as common sense. Professor Ana Zlata Štefanac’s name stays recorded in many chapters of plant virology books as one of the re- searchers whose results contributed to the basic knowledge on viruses we almost take for granted nowadays. She will be remembered as a scientist for her integrity, industriousness and enthusiasm but also as a person who had the best inter- est of the people around her at heart. Prof. Dijana Škorić, PhD Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb Marulićev trg 9a, Zagreb, Croatia List of Publications Miličić, D., Uđbinac, Z., 1960: Die Eiweisskristalle von Capsicum annuum sind Viruskörper. Protoplasma 52, 446–456. Miličić, D., Uđbinac, Z., 1961: Virus-Eiweissspindeln der Kak- teen in Lokalläsionen von Chenopodium. Protoplasma 53, 584–596. Štefanac-Uđbinac, Z., 1962: Kristali virusa mozaičke bolesti duha- na iz plodova paprike. Acta Botanica Croatica 20–21, 261–263. Miličić, D., Štefanac-Uđbinac, Z., Mamula, Đ., 1963: Raspros- tranjenost nekih virusa krucifera u Jugoslaviji. Agronomski glasnik 13, 92–100. Štefanac-Uđbinac, Z., Miličić, D., Zeljko, M., 1963: Virus mozaika postrne repe (Turnip mosaic virus) u Jugoslaviji. Acta Botani- ca Croatica 22, 107–117. Miličić, D., Štefanac-Uđbinac, Z., Mamula, Đ., 1963: Raspros- tranjenost nekih virusa krucifera u Jugoslaviji. Agronomski glasnik 13, 92–100. Štefanac, Z., 1964: Prilog poznavanju virusa mozaika postrne repe (Marmor brassicae Holmes). Magistarski rad. Prirodoslovno- matematički fakultet, Zagreb. Štefanac, Z., Miličić, D., 1965: Zelleinschlüsse des Kohlrubenmo- saikvirus. Phytopathologische Zeitschrift 52, 349–362. Štefanac, Z., 1967: Neka svojstva kukuruznog soja virusa mozaika šećerne trske iz Jugoslavije. Agronomski glasnik 17, 673–684. Štefanac, Z., 1967: Prilozi poznavanju svojstava virusa krucifera. Disertacija Miličić, D., Štefanac, Z., 1967: Plastidenverändreungen unter dem Einfluss des Wasserrübengelbmosaik-Virus (Turnip yellow mosaic virus). Phytopathologische Zeitschrift 58, 285–296. Miličić, D., Štefanac, Z., Juretić, N., Wrischer, M., 1968: Cell inclu- sions of Holme’s ribgrass virus. Virology 35, 356–362. Harrison, B. D., Štefanac, Z., Roberts, I. M., 1970: Role of mito- chondria in the formation of x-bodies in cells of Nicotiana clevelandii infected with Tobacco rattle virus. Journal of Gen- eral Virology 6, 127–140. Miličić, D., Štefanac, Z., 1971: Cell inclusions of the Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus and the Odontoglossum ringspot vi- rus. Acta Botanica Croatica 30, 33–40. Štefanac, Z., Mamula, Đ., 1971: A strain of Radish mosaic virus occurring in turnip in Yugoslavia. Annals of Applied Biol- ogy 69, 229–234. Štefanac, Z., Ljubešić, N., 1971: Inclusion bodies in cells infect- ed with Radish mosaic virus. Journal of General Virology 13: 51–57. Cvjetković, B., Pleše, N., Štefanac, Z., Miličić, D., 1972: Nalaz vi- rusa nekrotične prstenaste pjegavosti trešnje na ruži u Jugo- slaviji. Acta Botanica Croatica 31, 15–20. Štefanac, Z., 1972: The Occurrence of Narcissus Mosaic Virus in Yugoslavia. Acta Botanica Croatica 31, 37–40. Štefanac, Z., Borović, N., 1973: The relative concentration of Rad- ish mosaic virus in turnip. Acta Botanica Croatica 32, 37–42. Štefanac, Z., 1974: Belladonna mottle virus in Yugoslavia. Acta Botanica Croatica 33, 17–21. Štefanac, Z., Ljubešić, N., 1974: The spindle-shaped inclu- sion bodies of Narcissus mosaic virus. Phytopathologische Zeitschrift 80: 148–152. Štefanac, Z., 1977: Onion yellow dwarf virus in Yugoslavia. Acta Botanica Croatica 36, 39–45. Štefanac, Z., 1978: Investigation of viruses and virus diseases of spinach in Croatia. Acta Botanica Croatica 37, 39–46. Štefanac, Z., 1980: Cucumber mosaic virus in garlic. Acta Botan- ica Croatica 39, 21–26. Štefanac, Z., Grbelja, J., Erić, Ž., 1981: A cucumovirus isolated from pea (Pisum sativum L.). Acta Botanica Croatica 40, 35–41. Štefanac, Z., Plazibat, M., 1981: Biological, serological and im- munoelectrophoretic studies of Tomato aspermy virus from Chrysanthemums in Yugoslavia. Acta Botanica Croatica 40, 43–49. Bezić, N., Štefanac, Z., Miličić, D., 1983: Rasprostranjenost viru- sa karanfila u Jugoslaviji. Agronomski glasnik 45, 187–196. Štefanac, Z., Wrischer, M., 1983: Spinach latent virus: Some prop- erties and comparison of two isolates. Acta Botanica Croat- ica 42, 1–9. Bezić, N., Štefanac, Z., Miličić, D., Wrischer, M., 1983: Occurrence of Carnation vein mottle and Cucumber mosaic viruses on car- nations in Yugoslavia. Acta Botanica Croatica 42, 21–27. S6 ACTA BOT. CROAT. 78 (2), 2019 IN MEMORIAM Bezić, N., Krajačić, M., Štefanac, Z., Miličić, D., Wrischer, M., 1984: Occurence of Carnation necrotic fleck virus in Yugo- slavia. Acta Botanica Croatica 43, 7–12. Šarić, a., Štefanac, Z., Wrischer, M., 1984: Two rare types of par- ticle aggregates in infections caused by a Yugoslavian isolate of Broad bean wilt virus. Phytopathologia mediterranea 23, 88–90. Erić, Ž., Štefanac, Z., Plavšić, B., 1986: Characteristics of the tom- busvirus from spinach (Spinacia oleracea). Acta Botanica Croatica 45, 7–19. Rana, G. Z., Krajačić, M., Štefanac, Z., Pleše, N., Rubino, L., Miličić, D., 1987: Properties of a new strain of Tobacco streak virus from Clematis vitalba (Ranunculaceae). Annals of Ap- plied Biology 111: 153–160. Štefanac, Z., Bezić, N., Miličić, D., 1988: Some new data on Rob- inia mosaic cucumovirus. Acta Botanica Croatica 47, 1–5. Šarić, A., Štefanac, Z., 1988: The incidence and variation of Cu- cumber mosaic virus in four vegetable species in Croatia. Acta Botanica Croatica 47, 7–13. Mamula, Đ., Štefanac, Z., Thaler, I., Gailhofer, M., 1988: Detec- tion of a variant of Henbane mosaic virus in Physalis alkekengi L. Acta Botanica Croatica 47, 15–19. Štefanac, Z., Wrischer, M., 1989: Ultrastructural peculiarities of Turnip mosaic virus (massive) inclusions in two host species. Acta Botanica Croatica 48, 11–14. Krajačić, M., Štefanac, Z., 1990: Standardizing the conditions for performance of immunoelectrophoretic experiments with To- bacco streak ilarvirus particles. Acta Botanica Croatica 49, 1–5. Štefanac, Z., Krajačić, M., 1991: Glycerol efficiently lessens Tobac- co streak ilarvirus particles aggregation during formaldehyde fixation. Acta Botanica Croatica 50, 13–17. Bezić, N., Štefanac, Z., 1992: Light microscopy of Robinia mosa- ic cucumovirus crystalline inclusion. Acta Botanica Croatica 51, 7–11. Štefanac, Z., Miličić, D., 1992: Observations on infection of gar- lic (Allium sativum L.) with Cucumber mosaic virus. Acta Bo- tanica Croatica 51, 1–5. Štefanac, Z., Gailhofer, M., Thaler, I., Mamula, Đ., 1993: Some characteristics of crystalline inclusions associated with Hen- bane mosaic potyvirus. Acta Botanica Croatica 52, 1–4. Štefanac, Z., Pleše, N., 1994: Academician Davor Miličić (1915– 1993) – In memoriam. Acta Botanica Croatica 53, 177–179. Krajačić, M., Štefanac, Z., 1999: Some physicochemical character- istics of native and formaldehyde treated Tobacco streak ilar- virus particles. Acta Botanica Croatica 58, 5–14. ACTA BOT. CROAT. 78 (2), 2019 S7