NEW YORK (AP) — Edgar M. Bronfman Sr., the billionairebusinessman and longtime president of
the World Jewish Congress, whichlobbied the Soviets to allow Jews to emigrate and helped spearhead
thesearch for hidden Nazi loot, died Saturday. He was 84.TheCanadian-born Bronfman died at his New York
home surrounded by family,according to the family charity he led, The Samuel Bronfman
Foundation.Bronfmanmade his fortune with his family’s Seagram’s liquor empire, taking overas chairman
and CEO in 1971 and continuing the work of his father,Samuel. Under Bronfman’s leadership, Seagram
expanded its offerings andwas eventually acquired by French media and telecom group VivendiUniversal in
2000.But Bronfman’s wealth, combined with his rolein the World Jewish Congress, an umbrella group of
Jewish organizationsin some 80 countries that he led for more than a quarter century,allowed him to be a
tireless advocate for his fellow Jews."He wasthe first of his kind, a titan of industry that
dedicated himself fullyto advocating, advancing and encouraging the Jewish people," said
DanaRaucher, executive director of The Samuel Bronfman Foundation.In1999, President Bill Clinton awarded
Bronfman the Presidential Medal ofFreedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In the citation,
Bronfmanwas heralded for working "to ensure basic rights for Jews around theworld."In a 1986
Associated Press profile, he said his position and money helped him have access to world
leaders."It’sa combination of the two," Bronfman said. "In the end, it doesn’treally
matter why that access is available, as long as it is there."Theyear before, he had become the
first congress president to meet withSoviet officials in Moscow, bringing his case for human rights
andtaking a little time to promote Seagram’s interests. He visited again in1988, by which time Jewish
emigration from the Soviet Union, a key goalof the congress, had begun to rise under the reforming
leadership ofMikhail Gorbachev.During the 1980s and 1990s, the congress alsohelped lead the effort to
gain $11 billion in restitution for heirs ofHolocaust victims.Jews in German and Nazi-held countries
werestripped of their possessions, their artworks and even the gold fillingsfrom their teeth in the
regime’s death camps. Much of the gold wound upin Swiss banks, and the institutions came under heavy
criticism decadesafter the war ended for failing to make adequate reparations.In1975, the Bronfman
family made the news for a far different reason whenone of Edgar Bronfman’s sons, 21-year-old Samuel
2nd, was abducted in aNew York suburb.The family paid a $2.3 million ransom and Samuelwas later found
when authorities raided a Brooklyn apartment. Themissing money was found under a bed and two men were
arrested.Thetwo were convicted of extortion, but acquitted of kidnapping, in asensational 1976 trial in
which the defense accused Samuel Bronfman ofstaging his own kidnapping as a hoax intended to cheat his
father out ofthe ransom money. Samuel Bronfman denied the allegation and theprosecution called it
"ridiculous."Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.