Edgar Bronfman, Sr.

Edgar Miles Bronfman was a CanadianAmerican businessman and philanthropist. He worked for his family drinks firm, Seagrams, eventually becoming president, treasurer and chief executive. As President of the World Jewish Congress, Bronfman is especially remembered for initiating diplomacy with the Soviet Union. This resulted in the legitimising of the Hebrew language in Russia, and major steps towards allowing Soviet Jews to practice their own religion and emigrate to Israel.

Bronfman was born in Montreal into the Jewish Canadian Bronfman family, the son of Samuel Bronfman and Saidye Rosner Bronfman. Sam and Saidye were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who settled and raised their four children in Montreal. Sam and his brother Allan built the familys first liquor distillery in 1925 near Montreal. They later bought a distillery owned by the Seagram family and incorporated the name. The U.S. subsidiary of the Seagram Company Ltd. opened in 1933, where Edgar Bronfman would later take over as head.

Source: Wikipedia