Louis F. Solano '24, professor of Romance Languages Emeritus, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 88.

Friends and family remembered Solano as a dedicated teacher and a lover of languages.

"He was considered a great teacher by his students," his daughter Louisa F. Solano said yesterday. "He was a great influence."

Solano earned his A.B., A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard and taught at the University for over 40 years until his retirement in 1970.

"He really considered Harvard the most important place on Earth," said Louisa Solano.

But she added that although her father never lost his fondness for Harvard, he believed the school declined in the later years of his career here.

"He was a demanding scholar and I think as a result the relationship with the University was a bit rough," she said. "He would hold it up to very high standards."

Norman R. Shapiro '51, a professor at Wesleyan University and an affiliate of Adams House, studied under Solano as a graduate student. Shapiro describes his former teacher as a "gentleman and a gentle man."

"He was not tyrannical, he loved language and loved to teach it to those whoalso loved it," Shapiro said. "He certainlydemanded excellence, but he was gentlypersuasive."

Solano's articles have appeared in suchpublications Italica, Slavic Review, Speculum,French Review and Harvard Notes in Philology andLiterature.

Louisa Solano, who owns the Grolier PoetryBookshop, said that her father instilled a love ofbooks in his children, many of whom have gone onto careers in publishing and academia.

"The way he used to babysit us was to let us inthe stacks of Widener." she said.

"Louis Solano was born in Naples, Italy in1904. He leaves his wife Louise, a son and sixdaughters. Two Teresa Neighbor, live in Cambridge.Another daughter, Marie-Dolores Solano, resides inSomerville.

A funeral Mass will be held tomorrow at St.Paul's Church, Harvard Square, at 11 a.m.Cremation will be followed by burial in Mt. AuburnCementery in Cambridge