{{Short description|Hungarian-British philanthropist, business man and Labour Party donor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Sigmund Sternberg | image = {{post-nominals|post-noms=KCSG GCFO JP}} | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|6|2|df=yes}} | birth_place = Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|10|18|1921|6|2|df=yes}} | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Businessman, philanthropist | spouse = {{plainlist| * Ruth Schiff * Hazel Sternberg }} | children = Frances Aviva Blane<br />Michael Sternberg <br />Ruth Tamir (nee Sternberg) <br />David Sternberg | parents = }}
'''Sir Sigmund Sternberg''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=KCSG GCFO OOA<ref>[https://lematin.ma/journal/2009/Distinction_Sir-Sigmund-Sternberg-decore-du-Wissam-Alaouite-de-l-Ordre-d-Officier/124277.html Le Matin]</ref> JP}}<ref>[http://www.papalknights.org.uk/assoc-members.html Association Members] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206024623/http://www.papalknights.org.uk/assoc-members.html |date=2012-02-06 }} – official website of the Association of Papal Orders in Great Britain of Pius IX, Saint Gregory and Saint Sylvester</ref> ({{langx|hu|Sternberg Zsigmond}}; 2 June 1921 – 18 October 2016) was a Hungarian-British philanthropist, interfaith campaigner, businessman and Labour Party donor.
==Early life== Sternberg was born in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary.<ref name="thejcobit">{{cite news|last1=Sugarman|first1=Daniel|title=Sir Sigmund Sternberg dead at 95|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/164896/sir-sigmund-sternberg-dead-95|accessdate=October 23, 2016|work=The Jewish Chronicle|date=October 19, 2016}}</ref><ref name="thejcemmaklein">{{cite news|last1=Klein|first1=Emma|title=Obituary: Sir Sigmund Sternberg|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/164970/obituary-sir-sigmund-sternberg|accessdate=October 23, 2016|work=The Jewish Chronicle|date=October 20, 2016}}</ref> He was Jewish. He emigrated to England in 1939,<ref name="thejcobit"/> and was naturalised as a British citizen in 1947.
==Career== Sternberg worked in the scrap metal trade.<ref name="thejcobit"/> After the war, he founded Sternberg Group of Companies.<ref name="thejcemmaklein"/> By 1968 he retired from the scrap metal trade and focused on commercial property investments.<ref name="thejcemmaklein"/>
==Philanthropy== Sternberg worked to promote dialogue between different faiths. For example, he relocated a Roman Catholic convent at Auschwitz. Moreover, he organised the first papal visit to a synagogue in 1986. Additionally, he negotiated the Vatican's recognition of the state of Israel.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
Sternberg established The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation in 1969 and was one of the co-founders of the Three Faiths Forum. Sternberg was Life President of the Movement for Reform Judaism.<ref>[http://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/leadership/sir-sigmund-sternberg.html Who's who: Sir Sigmund Sternberg, President] – website of Movement for Reform Judaism</ref> He was chairman of the Sternberg Interfaith Gold Medallion.
==Distinctions== In 1976, Sternberg was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1985 he was made a Papal Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG) by Pope John Paul II.<ref name="thejcobit"/> He was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1998 for his interfaith work worldwide.<ref>[http://www.templetonprize.org/previouswinner.html Previous price winners] – website of the Templeton Prize</ref> In November 2005, Sternberg was promoted to the highest rank within the Royal Order of Francis I to the grade of Knight Grand Cross (GCFO), this in recognition of his contributions to furthering the interfaith activities of the British and Irish Delegation.<ref>[http://www.constantinian.com/news-2005.html#sternhigh Interfaith leader Sir Sigmund Sternberg promoted to the highest rank within the Royal Order of Francis I] – official website of the Grand Magistral Delegation for Inter-Religious Relations</ref> In 2008, he received the FIRST International Award for Responsible Capitalism, lifetime achievement medal.<ref>[http://www.firstmagazine.com/Awards/ThreeYearsAgo.aspx 2008 Award] – official website of FIRST Magazine</ref> In 2009 he was made Officer of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite by King Mohammed VI.
==Politics== Sternberg was a long-term Labour Party supporter and donor,<ref name="Labour Business ">{{cite web | title=Tribute to Sir Sigmund Sternberg – Labour Business | website=Labour Business | url=https://labourbusiness.org/tribute-to-sir-sigmund-sternberg/ | date= 2017| access-date=2020-05-04}}</ref> and was one of its top 50 donors in 2001 with a gift of £100,000 to its head office.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/funding/table/0,11893,714963,00.html | title=Top 50 donations to Labour in 2001 | work=The Guardian | access-date=29 June 2024}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Sternberg married Ruth Schiff in 1949.<ref name="thejcemmaklein"/> They had a son, Michael Sternberg, and a daughter, artist Frances Aviva Blane. They divorced in 1969, and he later married Hazel Sternberg, who died in 2014.<ref name="thejcobit"/> He died on 18 October 2016.<ref name="thejcobit"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.threefaithsforum.org.uk/FoundersAndPatrons.htm#SirSigmundSternberg Profile from the Three Faiths Forum] *A portrait of Sir Sigmund (1998) by Valerie Wiffen, [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw13508/Sir-Sigmund-Sternberg?LinkID=mp11801&search=sas&sText=valerie+wiffen&role=art&rNo=0 Sir Sigmund Sternberg by Valerie Wiffen], oil on canvas, 1998], is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
{{Templeton Prize Laureates}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sternberg, Sigmund}} Category:1921 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Templeton Prize laureates Category:Hungarian Jews Category:British Jews Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Knights of St. Gregory the Great Category:Labour Party (UK) donors Category:British people of Hungarian-Jewish descent