Charles Bronfman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Charles Rosner Bronfman (1931-06-27)June 27, 1931 (age 94) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Citizenship | Canada United States |
| Education | Selwyn House School Trinity College School |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingStephen |
| Parent(s) | Samuel Bronfman Saidye Rosner Bronfman |
| Relatives | Minda de Gunzburg (sister) Phyllis Lambert (sister) Edgar Bronfman Sr. (brother) |
Baseball player Baseball career | |
| Member of the Canadian | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1984 |
Charles Bronfman,PC CC (born June 27, 1931) is a Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist[1] and is a member of theCanadian JewishBronfman family. With an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion in 2023, Bronfman was ranked byForbes as the 1,217th wealthiest person in the world.[2]
Bronfman was born into aJewish family inMontreal. He is the son ofSamuel Bronfman andSaidye Rosner Bronfman. He has two older sisters, the art patron BaronessAileen "Minda" Bronfman de Gunzberg, and architecture expert and developerPhyllis Lambert. His older brother,Edgar Bronfman, Sr., was his fellow co-chair ofSeagram.Edgar Bronfman Jr. is Edgar's son. He was educated atSelwyn House School in Montreal,Trinity College School inPort Hope, Ontario, andMcGill University. Bronfman said he is Canadian in his heart but sought his dual citizenship in order to vote in the United States.[3][4]
Bronfman held various positions in the family's liquor empire,Seagram, from 1951 to 2000. In 1951 Bronfman's fatherSamuel Bronfman gave Charles a 33% ownership stake inCemp Investments, a holding company for him and his 3 siblings which controlled the family's corporate empire. Under the leadership of Charles and brotherEdgar, it controlled billions of dollars in liquor, real estate, oil and gas, and chemical companies.[5]
Bronfman and his brother, Edgar, inherited theSeagram spirits empire in 1971 after the death of their father,Sam Bronfman. Bronfman is a former co-chairman of theSeagram Company Ltd. On the 2000 demise of the company: "It was a disaster, it is a disaster, it will be a disaster," he says. "It was a family tragedy."[3][6]
Bronfman was also well known for his forays into professional sports. He was majority owner ofMajor League Baseball'sMontreal Expos from the team's formation in 1968 until 1991. He sold the franchise for $100 million CAD to a consortium of local investors led byClaude Brochu on November 29, 1990.[7] The sale was completed6+1⁄2 months later on June 14, 1991.[8] In 1982, a day after theMontreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League collapsed due to financial troubles, Bronfman bought their remains and used them to start a new franchise, the Montreal Concordes. This venture proved far less successful – despite later rebranding the team as the Alouettes, the team folded prior to the start of the1987 CFL season.
Since 1986, he has served as chairman of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, Inc.[3] He planned to close the foundation in 2016.[9]
From November 1997 until July 2002, Bronfman was the chairman of the board of Koor Industries Ltd.,[10] one of Israel's largest investment holding companies. He is the co-chairman of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. From 1999 to 2001, Bronfman was the first chairman of theUnited Jewish Communities, the merged North American organization comprisingUnited Jewish Appeal, the Council of Jewish Federations andUnited Israel Appeal.
In April 2013, Bronfman was one of 100 prominent American Jews who sent a letter to Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu urging him to "work closely" with Secretary of StateJohn Kerry "to devise pragmatic initiatives, consistent with Israel's security needs, which would represent Israel's readiness to make painful territorial sacrifices for the sake of peace."[11]
He andMichael Steinhardt co-foundedTaglit Birthright, a program which provides a free, educational travel experience toIsrael for young Jewish adults. Bronfman is one of its principal donors. Since 1999, the program has sent more than 700,000 young Jews from around the world on a 10-day free trip to Israel.[3]
In 1991, Bronfman with billionaireLeslie Wexner formed the "Mega Group",[12] a loosely organized club of some the wealthiest and most influential businessmen who were concerned with Jewish issues.Max Fisher,Michael Steinhardt,Leonard Abramson,Edgar Bronfman Sr., andLaurence Tisch were some of the members. The "Mega Group" would meet twice a year for two days of seminars related to the topic of philanthropy and Jewishness. In 1998,Steven Spielberg spoke about his personal religious journey, and later the group discussed Jewish summer camps.[13] The "Mega Group", went on to inspire a number of philanthropic initiatives such as thePartnership for Excellence in Jewish Education,Birthright Israel, and the upgrading ofnational Hillel.[12]
He was linked to scandal in 1999, when it was revealed that funds he had donated to social causes were transferred toEhud Barak's election campaign forPrime Minister of Israel, to which he had previously contributed, among others.[14] Bronfman was the largest donor to contribute to the renovation of theTel Aviv Performing Arts Center and has also contributed to theIsrael Museum.[14] TheFredric R. Mann Auditorium was refurbished by Bronfman's donation, and reopened as theCharles Bronfman Auditorium, in May 2013.[15]
Bronfman is chairman of theAndrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc.,[16] a family of charitable foundations operating in Israel, the U.S., and Canada. Since its foundation in 1986,[17] the charity spent more than $340 million to about 1,820 organizations. In 2016 Bonfman closed the charity, which was planned over years.[18] Bronfman is also responsible forThe Charles Bronfman Prize,[19] honoring individuals for their humanitarian contributions. The first winner wasGift of Life Marrow Registry founderJay Feinberg. He also founded the CRB Foundation, which runs educational enrichment classes in outlying areas in collaboration with the Education Ministry in Israel.[20][14]
Bronfman was a founding co-chairman ofHistorica Canada, producers of theHeritage Minutes series of television shorts. It was at an early meeting of this foundation (originally the CAB Foundation) that he asked the members, "If television can use 30 seconds or 60 seconds to persuade people that Cadillacs or cornflakes are interesting, couldn't we also use that short piece of time to persuade Canadians that their history is interesting? You tell me how to do it, and I'll fund it." It was out of that discussion that theHeritage Minutes were conceived, piloted, distributed through cinemas and broadcasters across the country, and then confirmed as a major contribution of the foundation – which a few years later became Historica, recently merged with theDominion Institute.[21][22]
Bronfman joined theGiving Pledge, an initiative of theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[2][9] In 2022, he donated $5 million toMcGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), which he co-founded in 1994, for Conversations about Canada, launching with "Comparing Immigration Policies: Canada & the World" in 2023.[23]
Bronfman was one of the first signees of theJewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign launched in 2020 modeled after The Giving Pledge to encourageAmerican Jews to designate at least 50% of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes.[24]
Bronfman has been married four times:
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