Savva Morozov

Savva Timofeyevich Morozov was a Russian textile magnate and philanthropist of an Old Believer merchant family, the fifth-richest in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. He studied physics and mathematics at Moscow University and chemistry at the University of Cambridge, where he studied the British textile industry. As the largest shareholder of the Moscow Art Theatre he funded the improvement of its building on Kamergersky Lane in 1902 and its electrification in 1903. Influenced by Maxim Gorky, he funded the Bolsheviks, including the newspaper Iskra. He died of a gunshot wound in Cannes in 1905; his death was ruled a suicide, though various murder theories exist.