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run media. Shortly after landing in
Bucharest, he was negotiating with the
JTA
country's Communist dictator, Nicolae
Ceausescu, promising him better ties
n 1992, Edgar Bronfman was
with the West in exchange for letting
preparing to leave North America
the WJC help Romanian Jews. He also
for Paris for his first meeting
warned that targeting Jews would
with then-French President Francois
increase Romania's isolation and tight-
Mitterand at the Elysee Palace when, at
en the Soviet grip on Ceausescu.
the last minute, he decided he wanted
There was another threat loom-
to take an unexpected meeting in
ing: the Romanian government's
Geneva instead.
plans to demolish ancient Jewish sites
So the Jewish leader asked Serge
in Bucharest as part of a real-estate
Cwajgenbaum, his right-hand man in
reform. Ceausescu was tried and
Europe, to phone the palace
executed the following
and ask to reschedule. The
year, but not before he
Elysee secretary, Hubert
managed to destroy sev-
Vendrine, exploded.
eral Jewish sites in the
"He asked me who Edgar
capital.
Bronfman thinks he is
"If not for Bronfman's
to move around a meet-
intervention, he may
ing with the president,"
have also destroyed
Edgar Bro nfman
Cwajgenbaum recalled.
the Choral Temple,
His answer? "The owner
Romania's Grand
of half the wineries and vineyards in
Synagogue, during that critical period,"
Bordeaux"
said Romanian historian Liviu Rotman.
In the end, Mitterand met ear-
In the latter decades of his life,
lier with Bronfman and then gave
Bronfman would turn his attention
him a police escort to the airport so
more toward grooming the leaders of
Bronfman could catch his plane to
tomorrow than fighting battles on the
Geneva.
world stage, particularly through his
"It's a good demonstration of the
work with Hillel and the Bronfman
ease with which Bronfman con-
Youth Fellowships.
ducted himself with world leaders,"
Other projects he championed —
Cwajgenbaum says.
some independently, others with a
As the longtime head of the Seagram group of major donors informally
Company — at one point the largest
known as the Study Group — include
distiller of alcoholic beverages in the
the Foundation for Jewish Camp,
world — Bronfman, who died Dec.
Birthright Israel, STAR: Synagogue
21, 2013, at 84, was among the world's
Transformation and Renewal, the
most powerful industrialists, credited
Partnership for Excellence in Jewish
with expanding the company's reach
Education and MyJewishLearning.com .
into the oil and chemical sectors and
Such efforts coincided with Bronfman's
enhancing its reputation as a purveyor
own growing embrace of Jewish ritual
of high-quality spirits.
practice.
But Bronfman will be remembered
He was also an advocate for women,
in the Jewish world for bringing that
gay Jews and the intermarried long
same flair and jet-setter assertiveness
before such views became the norm.
to his defense of communal interests.
He liked to relate how in the 1970s a
In 1981, he became the president of
Seagram's human resource director had
the World Jewish Congress, stepping up asked him to fire an employee because
the organization's activism on behalf of he was gay. Instead, he fired the HR
Jewish communities around the world.
director on the spot, believing that you
From his perch at the WJC, in addi-
fire people for what they do, not for
tion to battling with the Swiss banks
who they are.
Bronfman and his first wife, Ann
to secure more than a billion dollars in
Loeb, had five children: Sam, Edgar Jr.,
restitution for Holocaust victims and
their heirs, he continued the fight for
Matthew, Holly and Adam. He and his
Soviet Jewry, took the lead in exposing
second wife, Georgiana Webb, had two
the Nazi past of U.N. Secretary-General daughters, Sara and Clare. In 1994, he
Kurt Waldheim and worked to improve married the artist Jan Aronson. He is
Jewish relations with the Vatican.
survived by Aronson, his seven children,
In 1988, Bronfman flew in his pri-
24 grandchildren and two great-grand-
vate plane to Romania in the midst
children, as well as a brother, Charles,
of an anti-Semitic campaign in state-
and a sister, Phyllis Lambert. ❑
,-/
Cnaan Liphshiz and
Julie Wiener
--,- _- -
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Edgar Bronfman Fought
For Jewish Causes
248. 263. 6300 I www. startrax. com i fo @sta rtra x. co m
spotlight
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January 2 • 2014
37