In Memory of Professor Gastón Guzmán (1932-2016).

On January 12, 2016, Professor Gastón Guzmán passed away. One can say without a doubt that Latin America has lost its greatest mycologist.* I personally knew Professor Guzmán for many years. He was truly a great man admired by all who came to know him. I had just met with him last August at the Eighth International Medical Mushroom Conference in Manizales, where I had the pleasure of congratulating him on his birthday. Professor Guzmán was an outstanding scientific specialist in various aspects of mycology, including taxonomy, biodiversity, ecology, geography, ethnomycology, and the medicinal value of mushrooms, and he was respected worldwide. Gastón Guzmán was born on August 26, 1932, in the city of Xalapa, Mexico. In 1951, he started his studies in biology at the National School of Biological Sciences, National Polytechnic Institute Mexico City. His interest in mycology began in 1955 when, as a graduate student, he decided to update the poorly maintained collection of fungi of the National Polytechnic Institute. During his first field work in the forests near Mexico City, he found a myriad of species about which little was known at the time. This inspired him to declare mushrooms as the topic of his thesis and he vowed to someday write a book on Mexican mushrooms. In 1956, Guzmán met Dr. T. Herrera of the Institute of Biology of the National University of Mexico, the only mycologist at that time specializing in the macromycetes of Mexico. He formed a fruitful friendship with Dr. Herrera, which resulted in