| Honorific-Prefix: | Sir |
| Sigmund Sternberg | |
| Birth Date: | 2 June 1921 |
| Birth Place: | Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary |
| Occupation: | Businessman, philanthropist |
| Spouse: |
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| Children: | Frances Aviva Blane Michael Sternberg Ruth Tamir (nee Sternberg) David Sternberg |
Sir Sigmund Sternberg [1] (Hungarian: Sternberg Zsigmond; 2 June 1921 – 18 October 2016) was a Hungarian-British philanthropist, interfaith campaigner, businessman and Labour Party donor.
Sternberg was born in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary.[2] [3] He was Jewish. He emigrated to England in 1939,[2] and was naturalised as a British citizen in 1947.
Sternberg worked in the scrap metal trade.[2] After the war, he founded Sternberg Group of Companies.[3] By 1968 he retired from the scrap metal trade and focused on commercial property investments.[3]
Sternberg worked to promote dialogue between different faiths. For example, he relocated a Roman Catholic convent at Auschwitz. Moreover, he organised the first papal visit to a synagogue in 1986. Additionally, he negotiated the Vatican's recognition of the state of Israel.
Sternberg established The Sir Sigmund Sternberg Charitable Foundation in 1969 and was one of the co-founders of the Three Faiths Forum. Sternberg was Life President of the Movement for Reform Judaism.[4] He was chairman of the Sternberg Interfaith Gold Medallion.
In 1976, Sternberg was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1985 he was made a Papal Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG) by Pope John Paul II.[2] He was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1998 for his interfaith work worldwide.[5] In November 2005, Sternberg was promoted to the highest rank within the Royal Order of Francis I to the grade of Knight Grand Cross (GCFO), this in recognition of his contributions to furthering the interfaith activities of the British and Irish Delegation.[6] In 2008, he received the FIRST International Award for Responsible Capitalism, lifetime achievement medal.[7] In 2009 he was made Officer of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite by King Mohammed VI.
Sternberg was a long-term Labour Party supporter and donor,[8] and was one of its top 50 donors in 2001 with a gift of £100,000 to its head office.[9]
Sternberg married Ruth Schiff in 1949.[3] They had a son, Michael Sternberg, and a daughter, artist Frances Aviva Blane. They divorced in 1969, and he later married Hazel Sternberg, who died in 2014.[2] He died on 18 October 2016.[2]