Biliński Leon (06.15.1846 – 06.06.1923), son of Wiktor Biliński of Grodzisk near Leżajsk and Malwina Brunicka-Brunstein, neophyte of the Jewish descent, was a politician, economist, teacher and rector of the University of Lviv.

In 1912 honorary Rzeszów citizenship was awarded to him. He graduated from a junior high school in Tarnopol. Then he studied law at the University of Lviv, where he received the degree of doctor in law in 1867 and one year later – a degree of docent in social economics. Since 1871 he became Professor extraordinarius and a head of the Department of Social Economics. In 1877 the title of Professor ordinarius was conferred on him. He was a dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lviv for three terms. He also played the function of a Deputy Rector and finally from 1878 to 1879 he was a rector of this university.

From 1883 until 1918 he was continuously a member of the Imperial Council (Austrian parliament) in Vienna. In the term of 1897-1900 he was a vice president of the Polish Circle and from 1911 to 1912, and then from 1915 to 1918, he was its president. He played a lot of functions in the Austro-Hungarian authorities, including a Minister of Treasury in Austria from 1895 to 1897 and from 1909 to 1910, a Minster of Treasury of Austro-Hungary from 1912 to 1915 and a governor of the Austro-Hungarian Bank from 1900 to 1909.
From 1916 to 1920 he headed the Supreme National Committee. When Poland had regained its independence, he became a Minister of Treasury in Ignacy Paderewski’s government in 1919. During the last period of his life he endeavored to establish economic relationships between Poland and Austria.
In 1876 he became a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. In 1923 he was awarded with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He also wrote a lot of scientific papers in, among others, economics. In 1924 his Memoirs were published.