JOHN HARDT

HARDT--John Pearce,

93, of Virginia Beach, VA, passed away on December 11, 2015 at his home at Westminster Canterbury Retirement Community. He was born in Seattle, Washington to Sydney and Muriel Hardt. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Washington and a PhD from the Russian Institute of Columbia University in 1954. For the next 50 years, John was engaged in the study of the Soviet and post-Soviet economy and related issues. He joined the Congressional Research Service as the Senior Specialist in Soviet Economics in 1971. He worked at CRS until his retirement in 2003, publishing extensively and advising Members of Congress throughout this period. In 1953, he married Mary (formerly Scapellati) Hardt, with whom he raised five sons. John and Mary lived for over 40 years in Bethesda, Maryland before moving to Virginia Beach in 2009. John was preceded in death by his wife Mary and his brother Sydney. In addition to his sister Mary, he is survived by his sons, John (Jeanne), Anthony (Nancy), Daniel (Birgitte), Michael (Kathi), and Richard (Paola), as well as his grandchildren, Emily, Lisa, Andy, Madeleine, Sofia, Will, Isabella, Griffin, Eliot, and Joseph. John asked not to have a funeral service. We are grateful to the hospice and health care workers who helped him in his final months. We all cherish his memory.