On December 23, 2006, Dr. Abraham Rosenberg, Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Emory University & Adjunct Professor, Biochemistry (Medicine), Emory University passed away in Atlanta (USA) at the age of 82. His long and fruitful scientific life started with a B.Sc. (1947) in Chemistry and Mathematics from the University of Illinois. After graduation his first research was on the conversion of carotene to vitamin A in the laboratory of A.E. Sobel. He received his M.Sc. (1952) in Chemistry from Polytechnic University of Brooklyn and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1957) from the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. At that time Dr. Rosenberg worked in the laboratory of Erwin Chargaff on brain glycolipids including those stored in Gaucher and Tay-Sachs disease. He also studied sialidases from brain and microorganisms including influenza viruses. He found that the binding of this virus to mammalian cells can be inhibited by (sialylated) brain glycolipids. Dr. Rosenberg continued investigations on the structure, biosynthesis and degradation, as well as the biological and pathophysiological role of glycolipids, especially gangliosides in the nervous system. One of his main interests was the occurrence, properties and functions of brain sialidase and he published a variety of widely read publications on this enzyme. Using sialidases acting on cell membranes, he carried out first experiments on the localization of gangliosides on cell surfaces. His group also discovered a natural inhibitor of sialidases, 2-deoxy-2,3-didehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid in mammalian brain. Many experiments on sialyltransferases, the antagonistic enzymes of sialidases regulation brain sialylation, also contributed much to our understanding of sialic acids in neuronal function. In this connection he described the differences in fatty acid and glycolipid composition and metabolism of nervous and other tissues in dependence on the developmental state. He was most interested in the influence of gangliosides and other glycolipids in general and of sialic acids in particular on synaptic transmission and the sprouting of neurites in chick and mammalian brain and in cell cultures. Dr. Rosenberg also studied enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism other than those responsible for sialic acids in a variety of tissues, most prominently however in glycolipid storage diseases, like Morbus Gaucher. Attempts to cure such severe hereditary diseases with enzymes such as βglucosidase were also reported. In addition he studied fatty acid and glycolipid composition in some plants and microorganisms. The influence of neurotransmitters, hormones, ion transporters and other factors on the growth, adhesion, Glycoconj J (2007) 24:409–410 DOI 10.1007/s10719-007-9038-z