Cesare Mansueto Giulio Lattes died last March the 8th in Campinas, SP, where he lived for the last forty years. Lattes belonged to that special class of people whose death is not realized without an enormous effort, as if they were immortal. Deep sorrow and perplexity dominate minds and hearts of relatives and friends, the mood of painful sadness extending also to personnel in the institutes he worked for or helped to found and to bring up. Incredulity is the first feeling following the news about his decease. Past the first shock, however, one meets again the charm of his participation in our lives, the warmth of his friendship, the recollections of the shadows he helped to dissipate, leading colleagues, students and organizations throughout safe roads. He recovers the human essence, leaving to everyone that had the privilege of his acquaintance a share of optimism, endurance and a touching example of dignity, dedication and professionalism. That inheritance will live in our minds and hearts as long as we live and do our best to transfer it to posterity. In that sense Lattes will live forever.
Lattes; decease; obituary; biographic note
