MEMORANDUM

the Leontief family within the traditional hierarchical orders of St. Petersburg peaked when
Mariia Leont’eva upon her husband’s death in 1893 by imperial edict was granted
hereditary honorary citizenship for herself and for the children of all three marriages of her
husband. 8
A son from Wassily Iakovlevich’s first marriage, Valentin Wassilievich Leontief,
became the new head of the family firm. He developed the family business further and
succeeded in converting the family-owned factory into a joint stock company by July 1917.
This was the culmination of the commercial success of the Leontief family enterprise, but it
didn’t last long as political events soon after fatally disrupted the family’s ownership and
control over the factory.
The ninth child of Wassily Iakovlevich was Wassily Wassilievich Leontief (1880-
1968) whose mother, the second wife of Wassily Iakovlevich, died in childbirth. Wassily
Wassilievich was the father of our Wassily. 9
Leontief did not take a deep interest in his family history when he grew up. Important
facts such as the length of the Leontief family’s history in St. Petersburg may not have
been known to him until very late in his life when he got in touch with Russian scholars. 10
Parents
Wassily Wassilievich Leontief (whom from now on mostly will be referred to as
Leontief Sr.) was an exception in the Leontief family as he pursued academic studies and
an academic career rather than finding a place within the family firm as his brothers and
step brothers; they were all involved in the management of the textile mill and the shop on
Nevsky Prospekt. He studied in Leipzig and Munich and was away from St. Petersburg
from 1899 until 1906. To study abroad was not unusual among well-situated Russians and
German universities were often chosen. But the long study period abroad for Leontief Sr.
may have been forced upon him by circumstances beyond his control, as set out below.
Leontief Sr. may have differed from his siblings also by engaging more actively in politics
but the political stance of the Leontief brothers is not known.
It became a family legend in the American Leontief family that Leontief Sr. as a
young man instigated strikes among the textile workers of the family’s own factory. When
Leontief recounted the story, it could be with a quip like – “typical Russian behavior” –
without giving details. 11 Perhaps he didn’t have many details and he told it as it was about
8 See Kaliadina and Pavlova (2006, p.337).
9 GrandfatherWassily Iakovlevich also had another son named Wassily Wassilievich Leontief!
10 See Kaliadina and Pavlova (2006), Alpers (2013).
11 See Kaliadina (2006, p.348).
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