Rank #1713
Charles Bronfman
Net worth $2.5B
Liquor · Canada
- Born
- Jun 27, 1931
- Age
- 94
- Source
- Liquor
- Residence
- Palm Beach, Florida
- Citizenship
- Canada
- Marital status
- Widowed, Remarried
- Children
- 2
- Education
- Bachelor of Arts/Science, McGill University
Net worth over time
Biography
- In 2000, Charles Bronfman and his nephew Edgar Bronfman Jr. sold their family's spirits and alcohol giant Seagram to Vivendi for $30 billion.
- His father Samuel Bronfman, a Russian immigrant to Canada, started a small distillery in 1924 and eventually bought out competitor Seagram.
- Since the sale, Charles, who once co-chaired Seagram, has turned toward philanthropy, authoring two books on the matter and signing The Giving Pledge.
- Bronfman has given away or pledged at least $350 million, mostly toward promotion of Canadian culture and the Jewish community's connection to Israel.
- Bronfman's son, Stephen, runs Claridge, the Montreal-based private investment firm that Charles founded in 1987.
- Bronfman is one of the main benefactors of Taglit-Birthright Israel, which sends Jewish youth from North America on free educational tours of Israel.
- Bronfman's daughter Ellen and her husband Andrew Hauptman own the major league soccer team the Chicago Fire.