Savva Morozov

Savva Timofeyevich Morozov (Russian: Савва Тимофеевич Морозов,) (15 February [O.S. 3 February] 1862, Orekhovo-Zuevo, Podolsky district, Russian Empire - 26 May [O.S. 13 May] 1905, Cannes, France) was a Russian businessman and philanthropist.

Savva Morozov came from an Old Believer merchant family. He studied physics and mathematics at Moscow University (1885), in 1885 - 1887 studied chemistry at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), at the same time familiarising himself with the organisation of the textile factories in Great Britain. According to the author Suzanne Massie, in Land Of The Firebird, Morozov had approached his mother and family matriarch about introducing profit sharing with factory workers, one of the first industrialists to propose such an idea. His mother angrily removed Savva from the family business and one month later apparently despondent Morozov shot himself while in the south of France.

Morozov died from a gunshot wound in Cannes, France. His death was officially ruled a suicide; however, various murder theories exist.

Influenced by Maxim Gorky he became a significant funder of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party including the newspaper Iskra.

He married his nephew's wife Zinaida.

His mansion became the headquarters of the Moscow Proletkult.