Google co-founder leads modest life, says father: "One co-founder of Google may be on the verge of pulling in billions of dollars with the most anticipated public offering in years, but he continues to live modestly, his Russian emigre father said on Monday."

"The elder Brin set the stage for his son's classic American success story by emigrating from the Soviet Union in 1979. The mathematician father had worked as an economist with an institute of the Communist planning agency Gosplan."

"Because of discrimination against Jews, Michael Brin and his wife, a mathematician working as a civil engineer, left in 1979 with their young son Sergey. Michael Brin got a job at the University of Maryland mathematics department where he still teaches, and thought his son might follow in his footsteps."