Formerly CEO of the Seagram Company Ltd, Edgar M. Bronfman is a renowned philanthropist and Jewish leader.  Through The Samuel Bronfman Foundation, named in memory of his father, he supports many initiatives that inspire a renaissance in Jewish life. He serves as chairman of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and has played a key role in transforming Hillel into a vibrant international organization. In 1987, he founded the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, which educates and inspires future leaders from diverse Jewish backgrounds. The Curriculum Initiative, which Bronfman created in 1996, supports Jewish students in independent high schools and introduces school communities to Jewish culture and ethics. In 2001, Bronfman founded MyJewishLearning.com to serve as an online center of learning for Jews of all denominations and levels of knowledge.

 

Until June 2007, Bronfman also served as president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations whose primary goal is to preserve and foster the worldwide unity of the Jewish people. Working with the WJC, he advocated for the release of the Prisoners of Zion from the USSR and convinced Pope John Paul II that the establishment of a Carmelite convent near Auschwitz would be an affront to Jews worldwide. In 1998, Bronfman succeeded in winning restitution for Holocaust victims whose assets had been held in Swiss banks.  He has also served as president of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, which is devoted to the return of property and wealth owned by Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

 

Bronfman has been recognized for his leadership by organizations, universities and governments around the world.  In 1999, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor.