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Dr. Valter Tandoi, Associate Editor of Annals of Microbiology, has passed away at age 70 on June 18 leaving his family, friends, and colleagues all over the world in deep despair and sorrow.

Valter started his career in 1973 at the Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy (IRSA-CNR), mainly working on biological wastewater treatment and bioremediation of contaminated groundwater and soil. He became one of the world leaders in research on the microbiology of the activated sludge process. In the late 1980s, he spent 9 months at the University of California, Berkeley, working on filamentous microorganisms that cause settling problems in activated sludge. He published several papers on this topic and described many new filamentous bacteria, whose isolation was extremely challenging and their physiology difficult to determine. As visiting researcher at Cornell University, he contributed in 1991 to our understanding of the anaerobic reductive dechlorination process and isolation of Dehalococcoides mccartyi, the key-microbe responsible for the metabolic conversion of chlorinated contaminants to harmless end-products. He chaired the International Water Association (IWA) Specialist Group on Activated Sludge Population Dynamic (ASPD) in the period 1997–2005 and served as Scientific Director for the highly successful IWA supported international course on “Identification of The Filamentous Bacteria Responsible for Bulking and Foaming” held in Italy for the last 26 years. His unselfish and tireless efforts to support and encourage the education of engineers and other professionals in Europe in environmental biotechnology and wastewater microbiology are recognized worldwide.

In recognition of his sustained outstanding contribution to the water profession, he was awarded as IWA Fellow in 2012 for scientific excellence, and received the Ardern and Lockett Prize in 2013 for outstanding contributions to the field of Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering.

Valter Tandoi was an excellent scientist and teacher with a keen intellect and an admirable work ethic. He stayed authentic, always trusted as a colleague, reliable as a true friend and with an amazing passion for science. He will be missed by the many young people and students who will remain thankful for what he has given to them as a scientist and as a memorable and extremely generous person.