One of the most recognizable Zionist leaders of her generation, died on Feb. 5 at age 90.
Neri Bloomfield and her late husband Bernard were also towering philanthropists, and their name is attached to numerous institutions and projects in Israel, as well as Montreal.
Throughout her life, Bloomfield was most closely identified with Hadassah-WIZO, which she joined at age 16 in Europe, later becoming national president of Canadian Hadassah-WIZO.
Born in Bucharest, Romania on Nov. 23, 1924 and raised in England, Bloomfield (née Loewy) built upon her family’s seminal role in the Zionist movement and the trailblazing tradition of its female members. Her grandmother was a delegate to the second Zionist Congress in Basel in 1898.
Bloomfield devoted her life to the land and people of Israel in many capacities. She was national president of the Canadian Zionist Federation and of the Jewish National Fund of Canada, the first woman to hold that position. She chaired the women’s division of Combined Jewish Appeal.
She was a member of the boards of directors or governors of numerous other organizations, including the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization.
Bloomfield was president of the charitable Eldee Foundation from the time of her husband’s death in 1984.
Bloomfield and her husband were especially interested in promoting education and the arts in Israel. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem notably benefited from their generosity, but so did the Amal network of vocational high schools.
They also funded parks, museums and sports facilities in Israel. Her family says she was particularly proud of the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust, which in partnership with the Eldee Foundation, Hebrew University and the Technion, granted scholarships to worthy doctoral and post-doctoral students.
In 1995, she was the Canadian chair for Jerusalem 3000, an international celebration of the 3,000th anniversary of Israel’s capital.
In Montreal, Bloomfield was a generous supporter of the Jewish General Hospital, and especially its Lady Davis Institute for Research.
Bloomfield received countless honours, including being named a Ne’eman Yerushalayim, or faithful friend of the city, by Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek in 1992, and honorary degrees from Israeli universities, as well as St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
Bloomfield is survived by her children Harry and Evelyn and their families, and by the families of her late brothers Ariel and Amos Loewy.
Yitzchak Mayer, Israeli consul general in Montreal from 1980-83, said, “I found in Neri Bloomfield a grand Jewish lady, a dynamic and creative personality.
“She radiated wisdom, warmth, compassion. [She was] a daughter of a nation she loved in the deepest sense of the word ‘love’.”
Former Federation CJA president and friend Stanley Plotnick called Bloomfield “a grand dame in both the Jewish and the much wider world. Neri led by example, with passion, determination and inspiration.”
