DISTILLED

Charles Bronfman is one of the wealthiest people on the planet. An introspective gentleman known far and wide for his philanthropy (to date he has given away some $350 million), Charles wears his heart on his sleeve. Blood Counts, the memoir of one of the most important members of a famous and influential family, will be published in Canada by HarperCollins in Spring 2017.

In 1931, Charles was born into a family that was already fabulously wealthy on account of their liquor business, Seagram, run by his father Samuel. Charles grew up in a 20-room home with eight servants and was ogled as Jewish royalty, but felt overwhelmed by his overachieving family. The youngest of four children, he did not do well in school, describing himself as a basket case stricken by great bouts of anxiety and living in the shadow of an older brother Edgar, whom he paints as a bully.

By the 1990's, the family's wealth had turned into the several billions, culminating in the $42 billion sale of Seagram to France's Vivendi by Charles' nephew, Edgar Jr.. Charles and Edgar Jr. now rarely speak: the misguided sale, a straight stock swap rather than a cash deal, turned out to be a financial and emotional disaster for the Bronfman family. On top of that, in 2006, Charles was blindsided by the sudden and tragic death of his wife, Andrea, who was hit by a car while walking their dog one morning near their home in Manhattan.

Charles is a highly regarded member of North America's Jewish community, having started the Taglit-Birthright program, which sends Jewish youth from North America on free educational tours of Israel. Each chapter of Blood Counts reveals the many fascinating phases of Charles' life, and together paints a portrait of the true Charles Bronfman. For the first time, he discusses his relationship with his parents and his brother Edgar, gives an insider's perspective to working for the family business, and describes how the family splintered over the sale of Seagram.

This intimate, complex, and self-effacing memoir gives readers an inside look into the world of power and influence, and how Charles, the son of a wealthy businessman, used both to build a life of philanthropy.

CHARLES BRONFMAN is the founder of the Karev Foundation which runs educational enrichment classes in outlying areas in Israel; is the co-founder of Taglit-Birthright, a program which provides a free, educational travel experience to Israel for young Jewish adults; is the founder of The Charles Bronfman Prize to honor individuals for their humanitarian contributions; was Chairman of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, a family of charitable foundations operating in Israel, the US and Canada; and was a founding co-chairman of Historica, producer of the Heritage Minutes series of television shorts. Bronfman is the co-author of two books with Jeffrey Soloman entitled The Art of Doing Good and The Art of Giving.