Saidye Rosner Bronfman

Saidye Rosner Bronfman (1897–1995), was the matriarch of the wealthy Bronfman family. Her husband, Samuel Bronfman (1891–1971), founded the Seagram Company and the family took a leading role in the Canadian-Jewish community.

Saidye Bronfman was born in Plum Coulee, Manitoba and grew up there and in Winnipeg. Her father, Samuel Rosner (1871–1952), was a successful businessman born in Bessarabia, who later emigrated to England and then to Canada while a teenager. He served as mayor of Plum Coulee for two years. Her mother, Priscilla Berger Rosner (1876–1951), was a homemaker who was also an immigrant to Canada from Odessa. Saidye married Samuel Bronfman (1891–1971) in 1922 and two years later they moved to Montreal.

Although Saidye was both born into and married into wealth, she was dedicated to charity. She lived by the principle of noblesse oblige. Prior to her marriage, Bronfman served as president of the Girls’ Auxiliary of the Winnipeg Jewish Orphanage Society and later headed the Orphans’ Home. Beginning in 1929, she served as president of the Young Women's Hebrew Association in Montreal for six years. She was also the founder and president of the Women’s Division of the Combined Jewish Appeal (1931–1933) and in 1934 was one of the founders of Canadian Youth Aliyah, the Hadassah organization’s program to resettle German-Jewish youngsters in Palestine.

In 1952, her husband Sam, established the Samuel & Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, one of Canada’s major private granting foundations. The Saidye Bronfman Award was established in 1977 by the foundation to honour her 80th birthday. This annual award for excellence in the fine crafts is now administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

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