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Photo: Dina Gonna
Andrea and Charles Bronfman
Photo: Dina Gonna

Jewish Philanthropist killed in car accident

Jewish philanthropist Andrea Bronfman dies after being struck by cab in Manhattan on Monday. She was pillar of her family, Jewish community, WJC President Edgar Bronfman says

Andrea Bronfman, a Jewish philanthropist and the wife of a former co-chairman of the Seagram Co., was struck by a car and killed near her Manhattan home on Monday, police said. She was 60.

 

The car struck Bronfman as she was crossing the street, authorities said. She died at New York Weill-Cornell Medical Center.

 

Police said no charges were filed against the driver who hit Bronfman.

 

Bronfman was married to billionaire Charles Bronfman, who was born heir to the Canadian Seagram's liquor empire and rose to be its co-chairman with his brother Edgar Bronfman Sr.

 

The couple were active in numerous charities, in part through the work of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. Andrea Bronfman also helped organize the Gift of New York, a charity put together after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to provide free tickets to sports and cultural events in New York to the families of the victims.

 

Devoted supporter of Israel

 

The World Jewish Congress, whose president is Edgar Bronfman Sr., called Andrea Bronfman a pillar of her family and of the Jewish community.

 

"Her way was that of the Jewish matriarchs, and her passing leaves a void that can never be filled," the group said in a statement.

 

"She was an incredibly passionate and strong person. She had the ability to see that things could be fixed in the world and would just not take excuses," Simon Klarfeld, a former vice president of Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, told the New York Newsday.

 

"This was a woman who poured hours and hours every day of her life into charity… she was really about touching individual people," Klarfeld added.

 

Hillel International President Avraham Infeld described Bronfman to the NY Newsday as "a devoted supporter of Israel and Jewish education, promoting a host of innovative initiatives to engage more and more Jews in the beauty of their heritage."

 

Associated Press contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.24.06, 08:47
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