The Bronfman family is a Canadian family, known for its extensive business holdings. [1] It owes its initial fame to Samuel Bronfman (1889-1971), the most influential Canadian Jew of the mid-20th century, [2] who made a fortune in the alcoholic distilled beverage business during American prohibition, including the sale of liquor through organized crime, through founding the Seagram Company, and who later became president of the Canadian Jewish Congress (1939-62). [1] [3]
The family is of Russian-Jewish and Romanian-Jewish ancestry; the patriarch, Yechiel (Ekiel) Bronfman, was originally a tobacco farmer from Bessarabia. [4] According to The New York Times staff reporter Nathaniel Popper, the Bronfman family is "perhaps the single largest force in the Jewish charitable world". [5] [6]
The name Bronfman (Yiddish בראָנפמאַן bronfman) comes from Yiddish בראָנפֿן bronfn, 'liquor, whisky/whiskey, spirits', which is cognate with German Branntwein (in Germany the term refers to any distilled spirits), Dutch brandewijn (which became English brandywine, i.e., 'brandy'), and Afrikaans brandewyn, plus Yiddish מאַן man, 'man'; it coincidently translates to 'spirits-man', referring to one who makes or sells whiskey. [7] [8] The Bronfman family in Canada began with tobacco farmer Yechiel Bronfman (aka Ekiel Bronfman; 16 November 1855 - 24 December 1919) and his wife, Mindel (née Elman; 25 May 1863 - 11 Nov 1918), who emigrated from Moldova to Canada with their children in 1889, escaping the anti-Semitic pogroms of Imperial Russia. [1] [8]
In addition to Samuel Bronfman, Yechiel and Mindel's children at the time of emigration included Abe (15 March 1882, Russia - 16 March 1968, Safety Harbor, Florida), Harry (15 March 1886, Russia - 12 November 1963, Montreal, QC), and Laura Bronfman (1 Jan 1887, Russia - 1976); in total they had 8 children. [1]
The family settled at a homestead near Wapella, Saskatchewan, but soon moved to Brandon, Manitoba. In 1903, the family borrowed money to buy a hotel (the Anglo-American Hotel) in Emerson, Manitoba, which turned out to be profitable due to railway construction. In 1906, the family moved to Winnipeg. With the advent of Prohibition in Canada, Samuel and his brothers turned their energy toward selling mail-order liquor. [1] [8] Following the government's crack-down on the business, the brothers took another route: As it was still legal to sell alcohol as medicine, the brothers rebranded their liquor using names like "Liver & Kidney Cure", "Dandy Bracer-Liver", and "Rock-a-bye Cough-Cure". [8] Samuel took control of the business after prohibition came to an end in the United States, and was known as "Mr. Sam". [8]
According to The New York Times staff reporter Nathaniel Popper, the Bronfman family is "perhaps the single largest force in the Jewish charitable world". [5] [6] The family owes its initial fame to Samuel Bronfman (1889-1971), who made a fortune in the alcoholic distilled beverage business during American prohibition through founding the Seagram Company, and who later became president of the Canadian Jewish Congress (1939-62). [1] [3]
Saidye Bronfman, Samuel's wife, was president of the Young Women’s Hebrew Association (YWHA) beginning in 1929, and later founded the women’s division of the Combined Jewish Appeal. In 1952, the couple formed The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation to make grants primarily in support of education, the arts, heritage preservation, and Jewish community initiatives. Their daughter, Phyllis Lambert, founded the Canadian Center for Architecture. [1]
For years, Seagram was run by Samuel and Saidye's sons, Edgar and Charles Bronfman; and their grandson Edgar Bronfman Jr. oversaw the sale of company to Vivendi. Charles was also co-founder of the Historica Foundation of Canada and Heritage Minutes, as well as chairman and principal owner of the Montreal Expos. [1]
The youngest daughter of Edgar Sr., Clare Bronfman, was a benefactor of Keith Raniere and has been sentenced to almost seven years for her role in the NXIVM case. [9] [10] Samuel's nephews Edward and Peter Bronfman (sons of Allan Bronfman), founded Edper Investments (now Brookfield Asset Management). [1]
In 1994, the Bronfman family in collaboration with McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, supported the establishment of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), a nonpartisan Canadian research institute. [11] : 3
In 1922, Samuel's younger sister, Rose Bronfman (3 February 1898, Manitoba - 31 May 1988), was a substitute teacher and community activist. [12] [13] She married physician Maxwell Rady (born as Avraham Radishkevich, 24 November 1899 - 3 March 1964) - himself a Russian Jewish immigrant, who moved to Manitoba in 1893 [13] - and the couple remained notable philanthropists in Winnipeg. [14] The University of Manitoba named its health sciences faculty and its College of Medicine in Rady's honor. [12] The Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, and its Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine, are named after the Rady family in honor of its largest donor, Ernest S. Rady (b. 1937), Rose and Max's son. [15]
Jeremy and Eli Bronfman founded Lincoln Avenue Capital, a real estate investor and developer in affordable housing. [16] [17]
The novel Solomon Gursky Was Here , by Mordecai Richler, has been described as a thinly-veiled account of the Bronfman family. [8]
Canadian whisky is a type of whisky produced in Canada. Most Canadian whiskies are blended multi-grain liquors containing a large percentage of corn spirits, and are typically lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. When Canadian distillers began adding small amounts of highly-flavourful rye grain to their mashes, people began demanding this new rye-flavoured whisky, referring to it simply as "rye". Today, as for the past two centuries, the terms "rye whisky" and "Canadian whisky" are used interchangeably in Canada and refer to exactly the same product, which generally is made with only a small amount of rye grain.
The Seagram Company Ltd. was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was in the 1990s the largest owner of alcoholic beverage lines in the world.
Edgar Miles Bronfman was a Canadian-American businessman. He worked for his family's distilled beverage firm, Seagram, eventually becoming president, treasurer and CEO. As president of the World Jewish Congress, Bronfman is especially remembered for initiating diplomacy with the Soviet Union, which resulted in legitimizing the Hebrew language in the USSR, and contributed to Soviet Jews being legally able to practice their religion, as well as immigrate to Israel.
Charles Bronfman, is a Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist and is a member of the Canadian Jewish Bronfman family. With an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion in 2023, Bronfman was ranked by Forbes as the 1,217th wealthiest person in the world.
Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. is an American businessman, filmmaker, theater producer, and media executive who is a managing partner at Accretive LLC, a private equity firm focused on creating and investing in technology companies. He previously was CEO of Warner Music Group from 2004 to 2011 and as Chairman of Warner Music Group from 2011 to 2012. In May 2011, the sale of WMG was announced; Bronfman would continue as CEO in the transaction. In August 2011, he became Chairman of the company as Stephen Cooper became CEO. Bronfman previously was CEO of Seagram and vice-chairman of Vivendi Universal. Bronfman Jr. expanded and later divested ownership of the Seagram Company, and also worked as a Broadway and film producer, and songwriter under the pseudonyms Junior Miles and Sam Roman. He is chairman of FuboTV.
Samuel Bronfman, was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and member of the Canadian Bronfman family. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited and purchased the Seagram Company, that became the world’s largest liquor distilling firm.
Phyllis Barbara Lambert is a Canadian architect, philanthropist, and member of the Bronfman family.
Crown Royal, originally known as Seagram's Crown Royal, is a blended Canadian whisky brand created by Seagram and owned by Diageo since 2000. Production of Crown Royal is done at Gimli, Manitoba, while the blending and bottling of the whisky are done in a facility in Amherstburg, Ontario.
Edward Maurice Bronfman, was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and member of the Bronfman family.
Joseph Emm Seagram was a Canadian distillery founder, politician, philanthropist, and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses.
Peter Frederick Bronfman, OC was a Canadian businessman and entrepreneur, born in Montreal, and member of the Toronto branch of Canada's wealthy Bronfman family. He attended Selwyn House School in Montreal and the elite Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, one of the oldest prep schools in America, and received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1952.
Saidye Rosner Bronfman was a Canadian-Jewish philanthropist. Her husband, Samuel Bronfman (1891–1971), purchased Joseph E. Seagram and Sons Limited, that became the Seagram Company. The family took a leading role in the Canadian-Jewish community.
Bronfman is a surname. The name is Yiddish in origin and originally referred to a dealer in distilled liquor.
Marjorie B. Blankstein, is a fundraiser, community activist and volunteer. Through her mother Rose, she is a member of the wealthy Bronfman family and a niece of Samuel Bronfman.
Edper Investments Ltd. was the primary holding company and investment vehicle for brothers Edward Bronfman and Peter Bronfman between 1959 and 1995. At its peak in the 1980s, and early 1990s, Edper was one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Canada, controlling more than 500 private and publicly traded companies in a complex structure that was estimated to be worth $100 billion, employed more than 100,000 Canadians, and comprised 15% of the total capitalization of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Cemp Investments was the primary holding company and investment vehicle for, and named after, the four children of Samuel Bronfman: Charles Bronfman, Edgar Bronfman, Aileen "Minda" Bronfman de Gunzburg, and Phyllis Lambert, also known as the Montreal branch of the Bronfman family. Cemp became one of the largest privately owned companies in Canada. At its peak, it controlled tens of billions in dollars of assets in major distilling, commercial real estate development, oil and gas, and entertainment companies across North America.
Joseph Hersch Reinfeld (1891–1958) was a major bootlegger during the Prohibition era in the United States. After prohibition ended, he owned several large liquor import and distribution companies.
The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation is a private Canadian foundation providing grants to support the community sector. The foundation was established in 1952 as a means by which members of the Bronfman family could combine their philanthropic endeavours.
Stephen Rosner Bronfman is a Canadian businessperson, philanthropist, environmental activist and scion of the Bronfman family. He is the Chief Revenue Officer of the Liberal Party of Canada and a senior advisor to Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. He is also the last male Bronfman to have stayed in the family's ancestral city of Montreal.
Adam Rodgers Bronfman is an American philanthropist and scion of the Bronfman family. He currently serves as President of the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, named in honor of his grandfather, Samuel Bronfman. He is involved in Jewish outreach and advocates “a pluralistic and open Judaism.”
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has generic name (help)Even the Bronfmans, the world's most famous liquor magnates, couldn't tie their successes in booze to the legacy of Polish Jewry's tavern-keeping: They were originally tobacco farmers from Bessarabia.