Bronfman was hit by a passing car during a morning walk near her apartment. Her funeral will be held on Friday on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who are friends of the family, were notified of her death.

In 2002, when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem, he gave Andrea Bronfman the key to the city.

Andrea Bronfman was born in Britain in 1945 to parents who were active in the Zionist Movement. Her father, Haim Morrison, headed the United Jewish Appeal in the U.K. In June 1982, she married Charles. The couple did not have children together and Bronfman had three children from a previous marriage.

The couple used to divide their time between New York and Jerusalem, where they would stay in Bronfman's parents' apartment in the Talbieh neighborhood.

The Bronfmans are among the world's leading Jewish philanthropists. The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Foundation supports a broad spectrum of organizations and institutions in the field of education, welfare and strengthening Jewish identity. Andrea Bronfman was an art collector who devoted much of her time to supporting cultural institutions and artists. She was also active in the campaign for Soviet Jewry.

The couple also invested in Israel's business sector over the years and are among the owners of the Koor concern.

Jewish Agency chair Ze'ev Bielsky said Bronfman's death was "a huge loss to the Jewish people and Israel." The birthright program, of which Bronfman was one of the founders, said "Andrea's death is a terrible loss."

The World Jewish Congress today joined Jews in communities around the world in mourning the untimely passing of Andrea Bronfman. "Andrea Bronfman was a pillar of her family and the entire Jewish community. She was an activist as well as a philanthropist," said Israel Singer and Stephen E. Herbits, chairman of the World Jewish Congress Policy Council and secretary-general.

"Her way was that of the Jewish matriarchs and her passing leaves a void that can never be filled... She was cut off in the prime of her life," they added.

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