Dušan Matis, a prominent representative of zoology in Slovakia, university professor and founder of Slovak protistology school has passed away on 10 April 2012 in age of 76 years. During whole his professional life, he was a staff member of the Department of Zoology, Comenius University, Bratislava, from 1957 till 2011. In his research, he focussed on fauna and ecology of ciliates (Ciliophora), but partially he dealt also with other groups of unicellular organisms as well as with multicellular animals. He is author of many scientific and didactic studies. As a university teacher, he educated dozens of graduates who successfully operates at universities, research institutions as well as in applied sphere. He was important propagator of biology between youth and founder of the “Biology for future“ foundation. He initiated the journal Folia faunistica Slovaca as well as operated in editorial boards of several scientific journals.