The son of Allan Bronfman. Subsequently, the brothers, built up their own business empire through the holding company Edper - a combination of their names, Edward and Peter - which at its peak was worth an estimated $100 billion and con- trolled a dizzying array of companies, including the brewer Labatt, the insurance bro- ker London Life, the real estate company Royal LePage and the mining giant Noranda. In 1987, Edper indirectly controlled Canadas largest forestry company and largest trust company, and in 1992 accounted for 10 percent of the Toronto Stock Exchange's value. 'The brothers also owned the Montreal Canadiens hockey club be- tween 1971 and 1978, a period in which the team won the coveted Stanley Cup four times. Bronfman also helped Israel's own nascent hockey scene through his support for the building of the Canada Centre, a recreation complex in Metulla, in northern Israel, that boasts an the country's only Olympic-sized ice rink. The brothers divested themselves of their Eder interests in 1995, and Edward Bronfman became president of Maured Ltd and a director of Ranger Oil Ltd and Astral Communications Inc. Clearly not fulfilled with the enormous success of his business ventures, from the late 1980s Bronfman increasingly turned his attention to philanthropy. He took an active role in many national organizations and was a generous benefactor to several educational, cultural and health-care institutions in Montreal and Toronto.