ISJ 11: 329-330, 2014 ISJ 11: 329-330, 2014 ISSN 1824-307X IN MEMORIAM ANTHONY J. NAPPI 1937 - 2014   Anthony J. “Toni” Nappi, parasitologist, invertebrate immunologist and biochemist, passed away at his home in La Grange, Illinois on October 18, 2014 at the age of 76. Dr. Nappi received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Biology Department at Central Connecticut State University in 1959 and 1964. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in 1969 where his studies concentrated on the fields of Parasitology and Insect Immunology. He was the first graduate student to study under the direction of Fred Streams and it was in this laboratory that he became immersed in the study of hymenopteran and nematode parasites and how they both stimulated and suppressed the innate immune response of dipterans. His dissertation research laid the foundation for the study of cellular immune responses of Drosophila against parasitoid wasps. In addition, Toni convinced Dr. John G. Stoffolano, Jr., a fellow graduate student, colleague and best friend during graduate school, that they should study hemocyte reactions and changes in Musca domestica larvae during infection with the nematode Heterotylenchus autumnalis and together they published several seminal papers on the subject.   329 In 1968 Toni became an Assistant Professor of Biology at the State University of New York in Oswego, rising to the rank of Professor in 1976. He taught numerous undergraduate courses, but his favorites were Parasitology and Immunology. In 1981, he was recruited as Chairperson of the Department of Biology at Loyola University of Chicago where he remained as Professor until his retirement in 2002. Following retirement, he became a Visiting Professor of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he directed research programs funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. But Toni’s activities were not restrained by the confines of stateside academic institutions. He also served for 20 years as the Director of the Overseas Academic Program in Tropical Biology at Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory in Jamaica, where he annually taught tropical marine biology to undergraduate students. He also directed overseas academic programs in Comparative Immunology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Gif-sur-Yvette, France and in Immunogenetics at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Université de Bordeaux in France and he maintained very strong and long-standing research collaborations on Drosophila immune systems with Dr. Yves Carton at CNRS in Gif-sur-Yvette and the Université Paris. He also maintained active research collaborations with Dr. Enzo Ottaviani at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Toni had a brilliant mind and coupled with his passion for science made it possible for him to see things others often missed. Toni's excitement with science can best be described as pouring warm cola over ice, uncontrollable effervescence. He was creative scientifically and had the courage to stand by his convictions. At the same time he was willing to give of his time and ideas to aspiring young scientists. This nurturing attitude created an extremely popular and effective professor, teacher, and chairperson. I witnessed this first hand during the time Toni spent at Wisconsin. He invested an incredible amount of time with my graduate students and postdocs, giving advice, listening, and encouraging them in their efforts to become better at their craft. They are to this day deeply indebted to this gift Toni gave them, as am I. Like many scientists in the age of rapidly expanding technologies, Toni’s scientific explorations of insect innate immunity to parasites and parasitoids evolved through the years. Beginning with observational studies of insect cellular immune responses and encapsulation/melanization reactions against metazoan parasites, his research began to take on a biochemical emphasis in work on melanogenesis and this progressed to more detailed examinations of catecholamine metabolism   330 and its relation to insect cellular immunity. What perhaps tweaked his interests most during his final decade of research were his studies of the roles reactive oxygen and nitrogen intermediates play in immunity. Overall, his research career resulted in more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, invited speaking engagements throughout France, and in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan and at many dozens of universities and research centers throughout the United States. Both the NIH and the NSF supported his research and he served on the editorial board of five different journals, including the Invertebrate Survival Journal. His interests had great biological breadth; consequently, he w s a member of nine scientific societies. a T   oni was also an accomplished photographer, capturing action shots during college basketballs games and creating artistic images that challenged a viewer’s imagination. He loved Italian and French food, some cooking but mostly eating, and wines from either country. He shared his happy life as husband of Joyce for 55 years, father of Lynn, Kurt and Paul, grandfather of Amanda, Isabelle and Sebastien, and brother of Andrew and Mark. He will be greatly missed by family and many, many students, friends and colleagues throughout the world. Bruce M. Christensen Department of Pathobiological Sciences University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI 53706