Edgar Miles Bronfman (born June 20, 1929) is a Jewish-Canadian businessman and a member of the Bronfman dynasty, and the father of Edgar Bronfman, Jr. June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... A businessman (sometimes businesswoman, female; or businessperson, gender neutral) is a generic term for a wide range of people engaged in profit-oriented enterprises, generally the management of a company. ... Edgar Miles Bronfman, Jr. ...

He is the son of Samuel Bronfman the founder of Distillers Corporation Limited who purchased Seagram's in 1928. After graduating from McGill University with a B.A. degree and honors in history in 1951, he joined the family business. In 1957 he took over as head of Seagram's American subsidiary. He increased the range of products sold by the company, improved distribution and expanded the number of countries in which Seagrams products were sold. In 1966 Cemp Investments, which managed the family's investments, bought 820,000 shares of MGM and in 1969 Bronfman took over the chairmanship of MGM, albeit briefly. Following his father's death in 1971, Bronfman took over as president, treasurer, and director of Distillers Corporation-Seagrams Ltd. His son Edgar Jr. succeeded him as chief executive officer of the company in 1994. Samuel Bronfman, CC (February 27, 1891 - July 10, 1971) was the founder of Seagrams and a Canadian family dynasty the Bronfman family. ... The Seagram Company Ltd. ... McGill University is a publicly funded, non-denominational, co-educational research university located in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Edgar Miles Bronfman, Jr. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Edgar is the son of Samuel and Saidye Bronfman; his siblings are the late Minda de Gunzburg, architecture maven Phyllis, and Charles. He has been married five times. His first marriage, to Ann Loeb on January 10, 1953, produced five children: Sam Jr., Edgar Jr., Matthew, Holly, and Adam. Edgar and Ann divorced in 1973. The Toronto-Dominion Centre. ... Charles Rosner Bronfman, PC , CC (born June 27, 1931 in Montreal) is a Canadian business man and philanthropist. ...

In 1994 he married artist Jan Aronson.

In 1981, Edgar M. Bronfman was elected president of the World Jewish Congress, the federation of Jewish communities outside Israel. Together with his deputy Israel Singer, Bronfman has led the World Jewish Congress in becoming the preeminent international Jewish organization. Through the campaigns to free Soviet Jewry, the exposing of the Nazi past of Austrian president Kurt Waldheim, and the campaign to compensate victims of the Holocaust and their heirs, notably in the case of the Swiss banks, Bronfman became well-known internationally during the 1980s and 1990s. The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. ... Kurt Josef Waldheim (born December 21, 1918) is an Austrian diplomat and conservative politician. ...

Edgar Bronfman is also a philantrophist who has given large amounts of money to Jewish causes, including Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, which he is credited with helping revive together with Hillel President Richard Joel in the 1990's. Edgar Bronfman established The Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, an elite leadership program for Jewish youth, and is the founder of the website MyJewishLearning.com.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.

See also

• Bronfman family