[3] The surname Favaloro is derived from the Sicilian word Favaloru, referring to one who grows or sells beans; the term can also be used to denote a scrounger.

They equipped the town with an operating room and X-ray and improved the laboratory, thereby providing essential surgical and diagnostic tools.

During a visit to La Plata, he met Professor José María Mainetti, who pointed him in the direction of the Cleveland Clinic.

Although in the beginning he had doubts about leaving his profession as a rural physician, he thought that he could make a greater contribution to the community on returning from the United States.

The basic principle was to bypass a diseased (obstructed) segment of a coronary artery in order to deliver blood flow distally.

Favaloro returned to Argentina in 1971 with the dream of developing a center of excellence similar to the Cleveland Clinic, that combined medical attention, research, and education.

Favaloro contributed to raise the standard level of his specialty for the benefit of patients through innumerable courses, seminars, and conferences organized by the Fundación, among them the distinguished "Cardiology for the Consultant" (Cardiología para el Consultante), held every two years.

Subsequently, it became the Institute of Research in Basic Sciences of the University Institute of Biomedical Sciences (Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas del Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Biomédicas) which in turn, was transformed into the Universidad Favaloro in August 1998.

One of his more famous patients was boxing promoter and Luna Park arena owner Tito Lectoure, on whom Favaloro operated in 1990.

It should be mentioned, however, that despite the immense costs of bypass surgery, Favaloro operated daily on indigent patients, something that he felt was both a necessity and his obligation.

Although his suicide is often linked to the Foundation's financial difficulties, the letter clearly shows Favaloro felt overwhelmed by the corruption of the health system and that he could not fight against it.

[5] Following her death, he had resolved to marry one of his longtime colleagues and coauthors, Diana Truden; she lived with Favaloro during his final days and was in his Palermo neighborhood house when he committed suicide.