The renowned interfaith activist and philanthropist Sir Sigmund Sternberg died Tuesday at the age of 95.
Sternberg played a leading role in many key Jewish communal institutions. He was a member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and chaired the International Council of Christians and Jews, as well as founding the Three Faiths Forum.
Sternberg was born in Hungary in 1921. He arrived in the UK just prior to World War II. Entering the scrap metal trade, he built up his firm to such an extent over the next couple of decades that by 1965, in his early forties, he was able to retire from business and dedicate his time to charitable interests.
He received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1976, followed by a Papal knighthood from Pope John Paul II in 1985.
Sternberg worked as a mediator with the Catholic church, including on the removal of a highly controversial Carmelite convent set up in the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the official recognition by the Vatican of Israel in 1994.
His wife Hazel passed away in 2014.
