Bronfman family

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 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]

Family tree[]

Some of the family members include:

Early history[]

The name Bronfman comes from Bronfn, which is Yiddish for the German Branntwei; 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, Russia – 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 the famed 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 towards 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]

Business and philanthropy[]

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 Centre for Architecture.^[1]

For years, Seagram was ran 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 ), 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 (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 honour.^[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 honour of its largest donor, Ernest S. Rady (b. 1937), Rose and Max's son.^[15]

Works or publications[]

• Seagram Museum collection, Archived 2020-07-11 at the Wayback Machine at Hagley Museum and Library (finding aid)

Works about the Bronfman Family[]

• Faith, Nicholas. 2006. The Bronfmans: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-33219-8^[16]
• Gittins, Susan. 1995. Behind Closed Doors: The Rise and Fall of Canada's Edper Bronfman and Reichmann Empires. Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada. ISBN 978-0-131-82189-7^[17]
• MacLeod, Roderick, and Eric John Abrahamson. 2010. Spirited Commitment The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, 1952-2007. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press, for the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Foundation. ISBN 978-0-773-58333-7
• Marrus, Michael R. 1991. Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram's Mr. Sam. Hanover: University Press of New England, for Brandeis University Press. ISBN 978-0-585-26546-9
• Newman, Peter Charles. 1978. Bronfman Dynasty: The Rothschilds of the New World. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 978-0-771-06758-7
  • Republished: 1979. King of the castle: the making of a dynasty : Seagram's and the Bronfman empire. New York: Atheneum.
• Bronfman Family Dynasty (video), on Biography
• Whisky man inside the dynasty of Samuel Bronfman (video). Kelowna, BC: FilmWest Associates, distributor. 1996.
  • Video abstract: "Documents the rise to success of the Bronfman Family, who came to Canada as poor immigrants and became rich and powerful through selling (through Prohibition) and distilling whisky (Seagram Company). Family members recall the tough and determined character of Samuel who strove for social acceptance and respectability while alienating many of his family."^[18]

The novel Solomon Gursky Was Here, by Mordecai Richler, has been described as a thinly-veiled account of the Bronfman family.^[8]

Works by the Bronfman family[]

• Bronfman, Charles, and Howard Green. 2016. Distilled: A Memoir of Family, Seagram, Baseball and Philanthropy.
• Bronfman, Charles, and Jeffrey Solomon. 2010. The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-0-4705-0146-7
• —— 2012. The Art of Doing Good: Where Passion Meets Action. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-1-1182-8574-9

• Bronfman, Edgar M. 1996. The Making of a Jew. New York: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-14220-8
• —— 1998. Good Spirits: The Making of a Businessman. New York: Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-14374-8
• Bronfman, Edgar M., and Beth Zasloff. 2008. Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-3123-7792-2
• Bronfman, Edgar M., and Catherine Whitney. 2002. The Third Act: Reinventing Yourself After Retirement. New York: G. P. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-14869-9
• Bronfman, Edgar M., and Jan Aronson. 2012. The Bronfman Haggadah. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. ISBN 978-0-8478-3968-1. OCLC 795175261.

• Bronfman, Saidye. 1982. My Sam: A Memoir. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill. [Privately printed; one thousand copies have been printed.]

• Lambert, Phyllis, and Barry Bergdoll. 2013. Building Seagram. New Haven, CT ; London, UK : Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16767-2
  • Book abstract: "The Seagram building rises over New York's Park Avenue, seeming to float above the street with perfect lines of bronze and glass. Considered one of the greatest icons of twentieth-century architecture, the building was commissioned by Samuel Bronfman, founder of the Canadian distillery dynasty Seagram. Bronfman's daughter Phyllis Lambert was twenty-seven years old when she took over the search for an architect and chose Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), a pioneering modern master of what he termed "skin and bones" architecture. Mies, who designed the elegant, deceptively simple thirty-eight story tower along with Philip Johnson (1906-2005), emphasized the beauty of structure and fine materials, and set the building back from the avenue, creating an urban oasis with the building's plaza. Through her choice, Lambert established her role as a leading architectural patron and singlehandedly changed the face of American urban architecture. Building Seagram is a comprehensive personal and scholarly history of a major building and its architectural, cultural, and urban legacies. Lambert makes use of previously unpublished personal archives, company correspondence, and photographs to tell an insider's view of the debates, resolutions, and unknown dramas of the building's construction, as well as its crucial role in the history of modern art and architectural culture."^[19]

See also[]

• Seagram Building
• Seagram House (now Martlet House)^[20]
• Cemp Investments
• Edper Investments
• The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation
• Rothschild family

References[]

External links[]

• Bronfman Family at The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Seagram Museum Collection RG 490 Brock University Library Digital Repository