Dmitry Zimin

Dmitry Borisovich Zimin (; 28 April 1933 – 22 December 2021) was a Russian radio scientist and businessman, who was the founder and honorary president of VimpelCom. From his retirement in the early 2000s, he became known as a philanthropist. He founded the Dynasty Foundation and the Zimin Foundation.

Early life and education Dmitry Zimin was already engaged in radio engineering when he was a student at Moscow secondary school number 59. In 1950, he entered the Faculty of Radio Electronics of the Aircraft of the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI), from which he graduated in 1957. Then he secured the position of an engineer in the Problem Laboratory of MAI, led by Mikhail Neumann.

Career in science and technology In 1962, Zimin was invited to work in the Radio Technical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. For more than thirty-five years he held managerial positions at this institute: he was the head of the laboratory, then for fourteen years the head of the scientific department, and then the director of the center for the development of radio equipment. In 1992, the joint-stock company "Vimpel-Communications" (VimpelCom) was established, with Zimin as President and General Director. Zimin managed the operational activity of the company, while his partner Augie K Fabela II contributed equipment and money and managed sales and marketing. Soon VimpelCom launched a pilot AMPS station in Moscow.

The company became successful and in 1996, it became the first Russian company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which required a degree of transparency uncommon for Russian companies at the time. In 2019, BMT Private Equity, founded by Zimin, bought the Russian carsharing company BelkaCar.

Foundations for philanthropic activities Following his retirement, Zimin devoted much of his time and wealth to philanthropic activities, mainly facilitated through his Dynasty Foundation in Russia. The Dynasty Foundation was managed by an independent board, in which the Zimin family was represented by Dr. Zimin and his son Boris Zimin.

The foundation's priorities were the development of fundamental scientific research and education in Russia, creating conditions so that scientists could research and teach at home in Russia, and the popularization of science and civic education. The foundation was the first private Russian nonprofit foundation supporting science and education in modern Russia. It ran projects for the support and popularization of science and the development of formal and civic education. These included programs that supported gifted schoolchildren, future scientists, young physicists, mathematicians, biologists, and teachers.

In 2015, when the Dynasty Foundation was included by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the list of “foreign agents”, Zimin closed the foundation. A number of scientists and public figures condemned the position of the Ministry of Justice regarding the fund, considering the decision to be bureaucratic and unfair.

Zimin continued his philanthropic activities through the Zimin Foundation. In Russia, it supports the Enlightener Prize, the Independent University of Moscow, and other projects. International projects were also supported by the Zimin Foundation in public health care, science, education, and culture, including Ariel University and the School of Molecular and Theoretical Biology, Tel-Aviv University in Israel, and others.

Awards 2001: the “Business-Olympus” prize in the nomination “Business Reputation”. The Russian edition of Forbes magazine rated Dmitry Zimin as the 63rd richest person in Russia in 2004 and the 52nd in 2005.

2008: "Symbol of Science" medal in the nomination "Entrepreneur" for 2007 - for specific symbolic steps that bring closer the creation of a legal and moral environment in society in which fair competition of human talents is possible.

2012: Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation - for active charitable and social activities

2013: the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2013, the first Russian philanthropist to win the award.

2013: as a gift for the 80th anniversary of Dmitry Zimin, the minor planet 315493 Zimin was named after Dmitry Zimin.

2015: the "For Fidelity to Science" award from the Russian Federation's Ministry of Education and Science.

Personal life and death Zimin died in Switzerland on 22 December 2021, at the age of 88, through an euthanasia procedure. He had one son, Boris Zimin.