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Farewell

Farewell to Oscar Fugalli
(long version of article in IUFRO e-News No.10)

Sadly, we announce that Oscar Fugalli died on Saturday, 15 October 2005, at his home in Rome. Those who had the privilege to work with him will always remember him as a dedicated forester, generous mentor, and special person. To give an appreciation of his outstanding personality to all who did not have the opportunity to know him personally, we share here some memories of him:

Oscar was special in many ways to IUFRO and the staff at IUFRO’s headquarters: During his quarter of a century of work at FAO, he developed a global perspective on forestry, established personal friendships with forestry leaders in many countries, became multilingual, and especially came to a deep understanding of forester’s problems in developing countries. These work experiences and his ability to relate effectively and affably with foresters and scientists at all levels in all parts of the world eminently qualified him to be selected, in 1983, as the first Coordinator of IUFRO’s Special Programme for Developing Countries (SPDC).

As Coordinator of SPDC, he conceived and brought to fruition many activities that benefited forestry research managers and scientists in developing countries. From 1983 to 1991, Oscar organised four workshops on research planning, held in Asia (Kandy 1984), Africa (Nairobi 1986 and Lilongwe 1988), and Latin America (Huaraz 1987). He brought about a training course on statistical methods for research at the Forestry Training Centre in Gmunden, in 1987. To provide researchers in developing countries with the necessary access to forestry literature, he involved CABI and published several issues each year of the ‘