Technical Abstract: A volume of the journal Maydica is to be dedicated to Major M. Goodman, who is considered by many maize scientists to be the world authority on maize germplasm resources and their utilization in breeding. This article summarizes Dr. Goodman's 40 years of achievements in maize genetics, breeding, germplasm classification, and evolutionary studies. The impact of his work on many aspects of maize research have been enormous and these impacts are described in this paper.