Ronny Bruckner, also known as Yaron Bruckner (31 March 1957 – 4 August 2013), was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

businessman.

Career

Bruckner started his career aged 20, as director of Zidav, a company specialising in establishing trading partnerships with Romania, Poland and the former Yugoslavia. In 1981, he founded the company that is now called Eastbridge, and became its CEO. Eastbridge is a private company with more than 40 working subsidiaries in Europe and the United States, employing more than 10,000 people. The company specialises in several areas, including property (the company notably acquired a 25% share in Immobel SA, a property developer listed on

Euronext Euronext N.V. (short for European New Exchange Technology) is a pan-European bourse that offers various trading and post-trade services. Traded assets include regulated equities, exchange-traded funds (ETF), warrants and certificates, bonds, de ...

since September 2010), leisure, media, fashion and private educational firms. In March 2011, Bruckner was appointed a non-executive member of the board of directors of

Ageas Ageas is a Belgian multinational insurance company co-headquartered in Brussels. Ageas is Belgium's largest insurer and operates in 14 countries worldwide. The company was renamed from Fortis Holding in April 2010 and consists of those insurance ...

for a period of three years, until the conclusion of the shareholders' annual general meeting in 2014. Bruckner's name was put forward by Cresida Investments, a shareholder with at least 1% of the capital. In 1994, with Eastbridge, Bruckner bought out

Empik Empik (stylised as empi̓k) is a Polish commercial chain selling books, international press and media products (including film, music, and software). The chain also owns a photo company, Empik Foto, as well as a foreign language school, Empik Scho ...

(a national chain of specialised multimedia shops similar to FNAC), which as of May 2009 had 134 shops in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and 23 in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. From 2003 until his death in 2013, Bruckner, through a series of companies he controlled, built a portfolio of rental residential properties in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His concept was to convert outmoded office buildings into luxury residential rental apartments. His holdings included several notable addresses including

63 Wall Street 63 Wall Street, originally the Wall and Hanover Building, is a 37-story skyscraper on Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1929, it was designed by Delano & Aldrich as the headquarters of Brown Brothers ...

, 67 Wall Street,

20 Exchange Place 20 Exchange Place, formerly the City Bank–Farmers Trust Building, is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1931, it was designed by Cross & Cross in the Art Deco style as the headquarters of ...

, and 70 Pine Street. He utilized a combination of equity and debt provided by US and European Banks. All of his NY debt financing was arranged by The Singer & Bassuk Organization LLC

Charity work

Poland for Europe

Between 1996 and 2000, Brucker founded and chaired the non-profit organisation ''Poland for Europe'' to promote Poland's membership of the European Union, through development and a better understanding of Polish art and culture in Europe. Patrons of Poland for Europe include: *

Aleksander Kwasniewski Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

as honorary chairman (President of Poland from 1995 to 2005) *

Jacques Delors Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (born 20 July 1925) is a French politician who served as the 8th President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. He served as Minister of Finance of France from 1981 to 1984. He was a Member of the European Par ...

(former president of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

) *

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(former prime minister of Spain) *

Wilfried Martens Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens (; 19 April 1936 – 9 October 2013) was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian People's Party, during his premiership ...

(former prime minister of Belgium) *

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(former prime minister of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

) *

Hans-Dietrich Genscher Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...

(former German foreign minister) *

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(former American ambassador to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

) ''Poland for Europe'' was dissolved in 2000 when Poland officially became associated with the European Union.

PlaNet Finance

Bruckner had been the chairman of the board of trustees of PlaNet Finance since it was founded by

Jacques Attali Jacques José Mardoché Attali (; born 1 November 1943) is a French economic and social theorist, writer, political adviser and senior civil servant, who served as a counselor to President François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991, and was the firs ...

in 1998. This international non-profit organisation aims to reduce poverty through the development of microfinance. Patrons of PlaNet Finance include: * Edouard Balladur (former prime minister of France) *

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

(founder of the

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...

/ Grameen Group and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) *

Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (; , ar, بطرس بطرس غالي ', ; 14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 1996. An academic ...

(former secretary general of the United Nations) *

(former president of the European Commission) *

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

(President of the State of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1994) *

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991 during which he created the ''Revenu minimum d'ins ...

(former prime minister of France)

Arts

Bruckner was one of the Friends of Musica Mundi, an initiative set up to develop the talent of young musicians aged 10 to 18 through courses that allow them to meet other musicians who have already acquired a certain renown, and which holds an international chamber music festival. Bruckner was also a sponsor member of the Festival de Musique de Menton (in France), which was held for the 62nd time in 2011.Menton Music Festival
''Avignon et Provence'', 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruckner, Ronny 1957 births Businesspeople from Brussels Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives 2013 deaths Belgian Jews