ALBANY – Igor Leytman, 82, of Delmar, passed away on Saturday April 14, 2012 at Albany Medical Center Hospital after a brief illness. Born December 27, 1929 in Leningrad, Russia to the late Vera and Innocenty Leytman, Igor was evacuated from Leningrad during the blockade of WWII in 1941. After the war he returned to Leningrad to work briefly as a ship mechanic, then studied at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute earning his PHD in Mechanical Engineering in 1971. Igor went on to work with turbines, and he travelled extensively to help build electrical plants. He and his family emigrated from Russia to the US in 1978, initially settling into Jersey City, New Jersey. Igor relocated the family to Newburgh to work for Spence Engineering of Walden as a mechanical engineer until his retirement in 1995.
Igor is survived by his wife of 56 years, Dr. Anna Finebloot Leytman and daughter, Ludmila L. Gaffey. Igor’s family grew in the US. Ludmila married John Gaffey of Albany, and produced two grandchildren, Clare and Rachel. Igor cherished his granddaughters Clare and Rachel; he demonstrated great joy in their presence. He devoted time, patience and love to their development; they are both thriving accordingly.
Igor is also survived by his sister, Marina Kurzina and neice Elena Leytman and Elena’s sons, Misha and Daniel, all of Stockholm, Sweden. All traveled from Sweden to Albany in 2009 to be with Igor for his 80th birthday celebration.
A person of great kindness, integrity, patience and vast intellectual interests, Igor attracted respect and goodwill from everyone who knew him. Igor left behind an unpublished book of his theories on political and social evolution titled The Objective Laws Governing Social Transformations. He was able to produce a web site that discusses some of these views. His mind was sharp to the end. We mourn his absence, but appreciate the presence he continues to have in our lives. A private service will be held at Hans Funeral Home. To leave a message of condolence for the family or send a sympathy card please visit www.HansFuneralHome.com.
Elena Leytman
Dearest Igor! The world´s best brother and uncle, rest in peace.
You´ve left this life but you´re in our hearts forever. We are grateful and proud to have had you in our life, to have loved you and been loved by you.
The world has become worse whithout you…
Love you forever
Marina, Elena, Misha, Daniel
John Gaffey
The best father-in-law one could hope for. A true gentle soul who was never afraid to show he cared. He never raised his voice in 28 years I’ve known him. An egoless role model.
He persevered through mid-life learning challenges – language, technical metrics and diminished hearing – to successfully transition to acheive professional status here.
We will miss Igor. He was a big part of our lives.
Bob Troutman
John & family – my sincerest condolences on your loss of this very special family member. My thought and prayers go out to you all at this time.
Marina Kurzina
Лучший в мире брат. Люблю, тоскую, помню. Скорбь моя безгранична до конца моих дней.
Сестра Марина
Misha Istratov
Dyadya Igor!
You will be greatly missed and I am fortunate and blessed for having gotten to know you and your peaceful inner world with it´s interesting depth and structure.
Your patience and calm has left no one untouched and we will find solace in the fact of knowing that you lived a long and meaningful life, both career-wise and within our family, a lift worth being proud of.
Everyone around you was always touched by your caring and support and we will miss it and always remember it.
Ludmila Gaffey
One of the most attractive features of my father was his immence
intellectual curiosity. From math and science to social studies and history he could talk about almost any subject. He read his science magazines from cover to cover, but his passion was political theory. He had a talent in that field and evaluated the world events on the basis of his own unique philosophy with precision and logic that was difficult to dispute. Now that he is gone it’s difficult to accept that events will be happening, and he’ll not be there to observe and comment on them.That is probably how disciples of great thinkers like Aristotle or K.Marx felt when they were gone. Like them he left his mark on the world, and the world is orphaned by his passing just like we are.