Bata Shoe Museum announces death of founder, Sonja Bata
07/03/2018
Sonja Bata was born in Switzerland and married Tomas Bata, son of the founder of Bata Shoes, in 1946; the couple moved to Canada soon afterwards and ran the Bata shoe business from there. Travelling around the world with her husband, she began to collect shoes and used her collection to set up the Bata Shoe Museum in 1979, moving the collection to a new location in downtown Toronto in 1992 and then opening the current museum, the largest shoe museum in the world, in 1995.
The museum said: “A passionate collector, philanthropist, world traveller and business leader, Sonja Bata’s thirst for knowledge was both infectious and inspirational. Her drive for design excellence permeated every facet of her life and she encouraged this from those around her.”
She built up an extraordinary collection of over 13,000 artefacts chronicling 4,500 years of footwear history.
On learning of her death, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said: “We’ve lost an extraordinary Canadian. My deepest condolences to the friends and family of Sonja Bata, business leader, philanthropist and cultural force who shared her passion with Canada and the world.”
Share this story:
