Many of the comments here are completely out of order. As has become clearer in recent weeks, Paterno did not get a graphic description of what happened and correctly reported what he did know to his superiors. His recent comment that he did not follow up because he was worried that he would be seen to be interfering on behalf of Sandusky rings true. Can you imagine the fuss if it became clear that Paterno DID follow up with his superiors and nothing was done - he would have been accused of using undue influence to hush the whole thing up. In fact, I think that reporting the matter to very senior personnel and then refusing to get involved in judging a situation where he had an obvious conflict of interest (e.g. his longterm relationship with Sandusky) was a perfectly reasonable approach.
Paterno and his family will be in my thoughts. And I can assure you that he will be remembered just as much for his great achievements than a difficult situation which is very easy to second guess with the benefit of hindsight.