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 Montreal-born Bronfman took control of the Seagram empire from his
father, Samuel Bronfman who had founded the liquor company in 1924.
He then expanded its operations, acquiring Tropicana and moving
Seagram into the chemicals business by making it DuPont's largest
minority shareholder.
The son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, he was also president
of the World Jewish Congress from 1981 until 2007.
During his tenure, the U.S. Congress increased pressure on the
then-Soviet Union to loosen emigration restrictions on Jews living
there.
Bronfman also pressed Congress' efforts to expose the Nazi past of
former U.N. Secretary-General and later president of Austria, Kurt
Waldheim, according to the New York Times.
The WJC during that period joined the effort to force Swiss banks to
make restitution of more than $1 billion to relatives of German
death camp victims who deposited funds in Switzerland before World
War Two, the Times said.
"What we have to do is write the last chapter," Bronfman told
Reuters in a 1996 interview to promote his book, "The Making of a
Jew".
"We will get the story, there is no question of that," he said. "But
in the meantime, Holocaust survivors are dying every day."
The WJC mourned Bronfman's death in a statement.
"Many Jews around the world are better off today because of Edgar's
determined, unrelenting fight for justice on their behalf," said its
president, Ronald S. Lauder.
"His name will forever be enshrined in the history books. He not
only turned the World Jewish Congress into the preeminent
international Jewish organization that it still is today, (but)broadened
its base by bringing in new member communities in Eastern Europe and
other countries."
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Bronfman, who published his memoirs "Good Spirits: The Making of a
Businessman" in 1998, one of four autobiographical books, was put in
control of Seagram's U.S. subsidiary, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons by
his father in 1953. He became a U.S. citizen a few years later, the
Times said.
It was in the 1950s that Bronfman's sister Phyllis, was put in
charge of Seagram's new headquarters, the famed Seagram Building on
Park Avenue which continues to draw admirers to its airy plaza.
Bronfman, who was married five times including two times to the same
woman, made bold-faced headlines in 1975 when his son Samuel was
kidnapped and Bronfman himself delivered more than $2 million in
ransom. The kidnappers were arrested and convicted of lesser
charges, according to the Times.
Bronfman turned Seagram over to his son Edgar Bronfman Jr., who
became president of Seagram in 1989 and chief executive in 1994 and
moved the company into entertainment. Seagram's beverage division
was eventually acquired by Pernod Ricard and Diageo.
Bronfman died of natural causes, the New York Times reported, citing
the family's Samuel Bronfman Foundation.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by
Mike Collett-White)
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