Mathematician Alessandro Figà Talamanca, a leading international researcher and representative of Italian mathematics in the world, died in Rome at the age of 85. After starting his academic career in the U.S., he was professor of mathematical analysis at the "Sapienza" University of Rome since 1970, serving twice as director of the "Guido Castelnuovo" Department of Mathematics. Figà Talamanca was president of the Italian Mathematical Union (1988-1993) and a longtime member of its scientific council; president of the National Institute of High Mathematics (1995-2003); and vice president of the European Mathematical Society. Born in Rome on May 25, 1938, Figà Talamanca studied mathematics at "Sapienza" and at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he received a PhD in mathematics in 1964 and also began his academic career in the same year. He was a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston (1964-66), a professor of mathematical analysis at the University of Genoa (1966-68), the University of California at Berkeley (1968-69) and Yale University (1969-70). In November 1970 he became a tenured professor at Rome's "Sapienza" University. He was also Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland, Washington University and the University of New South Wales in Sydney.