Charles Bronfman

Charles Rosner Bronfman, PC, CC ( * June 27, 1931 in Montreal ) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.

Family

Charles Bronfman is one of four children of Samuel and Saidye Bronfman. He was married to Andrea Brett Morrison and the couple have five children (Jeremy, Pippa, Tony, Ellen and Stephen ).

Life

Bronfman attended the Selwyn House School in Montreal, the Trinity College School in Port Hope (Ontario ) and the McGill University.

From 1968 to 1990 he was the majority owner of a professional baseball team Montreal Expos, which played in Major League Baseball. Since 1997 he has been Chairman of Koor Industries Ltd.. , One of Israel's largest investment holding Companys.

Forbes magazine led him in 2003 to number five on the richest people in Canada and in 2005 at number 211 of the list of the richest people in the world.

With his wife he founded in 1986 the CRB Foundation, whose aim is to promote the unity of the Jewish people. From 1999 to 2001 he was the president of the United Jewish Communities ( UJC ), an umbrella organization of 155 Jewish associations and 400 independent Jewish communities of North America. Together with Michael Steinhardt, he founded Birthright Israel, a program that allows the Jewish youths 18 to 26 trips to Israel and them as the contact with the culture of the country should be made possible. Since the beginning of the program in the winter of 2000, some 110,000 young people have participated. In addition, he is chairman of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc., a group of charities that operate in Canada, the U.S. and Israel.

Awards

• Officer of the Order of Canada (1981 )
• Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( 1990)
• Honorary Doctorate of Law of McGill University, Montreal (1990 )
• Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada (1992 )
• Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest honor for civilians (1992 )
• Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts ( 1992)
• Honorary Doctorate of Law, Concordia University, Montreal (1992 )
• Honorary Doctorate of Law at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo ( 1995)
• Honorary Doctorate of Law at the University of Toronto (2000)
• Together with his wife him the honorary citizenship of the city of Jerusalem was in 2002 awarded