This article is dedicated to the life and work of Professor E.A. Uspensky – doctor of medical sciences, medical service colonel and head of the department of pathological anatomy at N.I. Pirogov Odessa Medical Institute. His life is typical of representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, who have received their higher education in the early years of Soviet government. A graduate of the 1st Moscow University, Uspensky was sent to work in the Lipetsk region. Then, at the Leningrad Institute of Advanced Medical Studies, under the leadership of Professor B.S. Doynikov, he worked on pathomorphology of the central and peripheral nervous system.