{{Short description|Swiss Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist, collector and museum founder}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Sonja Bata | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|MSM|CD|size=100%}} | image = | caption = | birth_name = Sonja Ingrid Wettstein | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1926|11|8}} | birth_place = [[Zürich]], Switzerland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2018|2|20|1926|11|8}} | death_place = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada | burial_place = [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto|Mount Pleasant Cemetery]] | other_names = Sonja Baťová | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Businesswoman, philanthropist, collector and museum founder | spouse = {{marriage|[[Thomas J. Bata]]|1946|1 September 2008|end=d}} | partner = | children = 4 | parents = | relatives = [[Tomáš Baťa]] (father-in-law) | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Sonja Ingrid Bata''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|MSM|CD}} (or '''Sonja Baťová'''; {{née|'''Wettstein'''}}; 8 November 1926 – 20 February 2018) was a [[Swiss Canadian]] businesswoman, philanthropist, collector and museum founder,{{sfn|Rezac|2005|p=139}} who initially trained as an architect.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Sonja+I.+Bata+8+nov+1926|title=Sonja I. Bata 8 nov 1926 - Google Search|website=google.com|access-date=24 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/sonja-bata-was-the-guiding-force-of-the-bata-shoe-enterprise/article38053718/|title=Sonja Bata was a guiding force of the Bata shoe enterprise|publisher=|access-date=24 October 2018|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=21 February 2018 |last=Hampson |first=Sarah}}</ref>
==Biography== [[File:Bata Shoe Museum 2.jpg|alt=Bata Shoe Museum on the corner of a street in Toronto. People walking on the sidewalk in front of the facade.|thumb|Bata Shoe Museum]]
She left her architecture studies after her marriage to [[Thomas J. Bata]] of [[Bata Shoes]] and moved to [[Toronto]] in 1946, befriending those in the architecture community – [[Raymond Moriyama]] designed the [[Bata Shoe Museum]], while [[John Cresswell Parkin]] designed the impressive [[Don Mills]] headquarters of Bata Shoes and the family's country house in [[Batawa]].<ref name="LeBlanc2009">{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/before-modern-turned-retro/article1345237/|title=The Architourist - Before modern turned retro|last1=LeBlanc|first1=Dave|date=27 August 2009|access-date=17 October 2015|publisher=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> Though she had earlier envisioned herself to become a great architect, she set her designs on improving the Bata Shoe company.{{sfn|Bata|Sinclair|1990|p=132}}
[[File:Graves of Sonja Bata-Wettstein (1926–2018) and Thomas J. Bata (1914–2008) at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Graves of Sonja and Thomas Bata at Mount Pleasant Cemetery]]
Also in the 1940s, she began collecting shoes and studying their history. In 1979, she endowed the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation. The Bata Shoe Museum, established in 1995, is the world's largest shoe museum,{{sfn|DeMello|2009|p=32}} and the core collection is attributed to Bata.{{sfn|Grzeskowiak|2008|p=48}} She was the museum's chairperson.{{sfn|Benstock|Ferriss|2001|p=35}}
Bata was also the chair of the [[National Design Council]] (1970s).{{sfn|Bata|Sinclair|1990|p=138}} She helped establish the [[Toronto French School]], served as director the [[Art Gallery of Ontario]], sat on the boards of [[Alcan]] and Canada Trustco (now [[TD Canada Trust]]), affiliated with the [[World Wildlife Fund]],{{sfn|Bata|Sinclair|1990|p=139}} and became an Honorary Captain in the RCN and sponsor of [[HMCS Ottawa (FFH 341)|HMCS ''Ottawa'']].{{sfn|Rezac|2005|p=139}}
She was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of Canada]] in 1983.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bryant|first=Nolan|date=2016-08-27|title=Woman of Influence: Mrs. Bata at 90 |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2273238796|access-date=2022-01-26|id={{ProQuest|2273238796}} }}</ref> She died at her home in Toronto on 20 February 2018, outliving her husband for nine years. She was buried alongside him at [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto|Mount Pleasant Cemetery]].
==Personal life== She had four children.{{sfn|Bata|Sinclair|1990|p=134}} Her father-in-law is [[Tomáš Baťa]], the founder of Bata Shoes.{{citation needed|date = February 2018}} <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sonja-bata-obit-1.4545860|title=Sonja Bata, founder of Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, remembered for passion, generosity - CBC News|publisher=|access-date=24 October 2018}}</ref>
==Awards== * Appointed an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]] (OC) in 1983. * She received the [[125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal]] in 1992. * She received the Canadian Version of the [[Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal]] in 2002. * She received the Canadian Version of the [[Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal]] in 2012. * She received the [[Meritorious Service Medal (Canada)|Meritorious Service Medal]] (MSM) in the Military Division on 19 February 2007.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/139-286|title = Honorary Captain(N) Sonja Ingrid Bata}}</ref> * She received the [[Canadian Forces' Decoration]] (CD) with 1 Clasp for 24 years service as an [[Captain (naval)|Honorary Captain]] with the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] 1989-2013. *Companion of the [[Canadian Business Hall of Fame]] *[[Retail Council of Canada#Lifetime achievement award|Lifetime achievement award, Retail Council of Canada]] *1995, [[Conference Board of Canada]]{{clarify|date=November 2015}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|last1=Bata|first1=Thomas John|last2=Sinclair|first2=Sonja|title=Bata: Shoemaker to the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5FwrNew3nm8C&pg=PA132|year=1990|publisher=Bata|isbn=978-0-7737-2416-7}} *{{cite book|last1=Benstock|first1=Shari|author1-link=Shari Benstock|last2=Ferriss|first2=Suzanne|title=Footnotes: On Shoes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUK8BP7OOJQC&pg=PA35|year=2001|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-2871-7}} *{{cite book|last=DeMello|first=Margo|title=Feet and Footwear: A Cultural Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKTACQAAQBAJ&pg=PA32|date=10 September 2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-35715-2}} *{{cite book|last=Grzeskowiak|first=Mark|title=Toronto & Niagara Colourguide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l9rjqnNd2w0C&pg=PA48|date=16 April 2008|publisher=Formac Publishing Company Limited|isbn=978-0-88780-760-2}} *{{cite book|last=Rezac|first=Darcy|title=Work the Pond: Use the Power of Positive Networking to Leap Forward in Work and Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajcXog5Ex6AC&pg=PA139|year=2005|publisher=Prentice Hall Press|isbn=978-0-7352-0402-7}}
{{Bata Limited|state=expanded}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bata, Sonja I.}} [[Category:1926 births]] [[Category:2018 deaths]] [[Category:Bata family]] [[Category:Bata Corporation]] [[Category:Swiss philanthropists]] [[Category:Swiss women philanthropists]] [[Category:Swiss women architects]] [[Category:Canadian women architects]] [[Category:Canadian women business executives]] [[Category:Museum founders]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Zurich]] [[Category:Canadian women philanthropists]] [[Category:Canadian people of Swiss descent]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian philanthropists]] [[Category:Women founders]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian women philanthropists]] [[Category:Burials at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto]]