Pipe, tube, a royal past and passion for philanthropy

Dec 01, 2008 | 06:54 AM |

Piotr Galitzine, chairman of Ipsco Tubulars Inc. and NS Group Inc., has another title prince. And like any nobleman worth his salt, Prince Galitzine can trace his family's history back more than six centuries.

Galitzine's clan, which originated in the city of Novgorod in northwest Russia, recently held its first global family reunion, including a celebration of 675 years as Russians and 600 years as Muscovites.

"We were a little bit forced to come to Moscow because Ivan the Terrible destroyed our army—so we become Muscovites unwillingly," Galitzine said. But no matter—any excuse to get the family together is a good one, he joked.

Galitzine's family is originally from Lithuania—"back when Lithuania was a big, important country"—and stretched from the North Sea to the Black Sea, he said. As part of the royal line in Lithuania, male heirs later became princes in Russia.

While Galitzine's family roots might be in Lithuania, he is firmly committed to philanthropic enterprises in his not-so-recently adopted homeland. As chairman of the board of trustees of the Village Church of Russia, Galitzine works to conserve provincial churches, many of which were destroyed during Soviet times. ....