“Zina” (Sophie Salamon), Leo’s mother, was a teacher before Leo was born. However, when he reached school age, she stayed home and tutored him (and later, his younger brother, Henry). Leo “didn’t begin formal schooling until the age of nine, when he started at a private institution attended and staffed mostly by Jews.” (“Leonid Hurwicz’s Game“) This was probably the same type of chinuch (חינוך) where Adek taught history when he returned to Warsaw after receiving his law degree.

Klara Samuels says “Uncle Adek was another important adult in my life. I loved his wife Zina, my father’s sister, who was also my mother’s closest friend. Zina was soft, plump and cuddly.” (“God Does Play Dice,” p. 30)

I remember Zina as a sweet, nervous woman, often scurrying about trying to please Adek, which was not always easy. Her maiden name, Salamon, I was told, may have indicated Italian, or simply Sephardic Jewish, heritage. I remember Adek mentioning once, with great relish, the time when he was “chasing Zina around Warsaw.”

She died of cancer at age 62, in Billings Hospital, in Chicago. Her obituary from the Chicago Hyde Park Herald of February 22, 1956 (edited OCR version, so may contain errors):

“Mrs. Abraham Hurwicz (Mrs. Sophie Hurwicz), 62, of 5112 Dorchester Ave., died in Billings hospital. Mrs. Hurwicz’s husband, Abraham, is professor of Slovenic languages and culture at Roosevelt University in the University of Chicago. Also surviving are two sons: Leonid, economics professor at the University of Minnesota, and Henry of Stratford Conn.; six grandchildren, and a brother in Israel.”

The brother in Israel would be Moses. (See family tree below.)

A similar notice appeared in the Chicago Tribune on February 12, 1956.