Judaica / Zionisim - Samuel Bronfman medal, Eightieth Birthday Commemoration - 1971 Samuel Bronfman ...

Judaica / Zionisim - Samuel Bronfman medal, Eightieth Birthday Commemoration - 1971 Samuel Bronfman, (February 27, 1889 – July 10, 1971) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Bronfman family. Samuel Bronfman was born in Otaci, Soroca uyezd, Bessarabia, then part of the Russian Empire (present-day Moldova), one of eight children of Mindel and Yechiel Bronfman. He and his parents were both Jewish refugees of Czarist Russia's antisemitic pogroms, who immigrated to Wapella in the North-West Territories' District of Assiniboia. They soon moved to Brandon, Manitoba. A wealthy family, they were accompanied by their rabbi and two servants. Soon Yechiel learned that tobacco farming, which had made him a wealthy man in his homeland, was incompatible with the cold climate of that region. Yechiel was forced to work as a laborer for the Canadian Northern Railway, and after a short time moved to a better job in a sawmill. Yechiel and his sons then started making a good living selling firewood and began a trade in frozen whitefish to earn a winter income. Eventually, they turned to trade horses, a venture through which they became involved in the hotel and bar business