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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 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]
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 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 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]
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]
