07.11.2026
Sonja Ingrid Bata, née Wettstein, was born on 8 November 1926 in Zurich, Switzerland. At the age of nineteen, she gave up her architecture studies and married Thomas J. Bata, then aged thirty-one, the son of the founder of the Czechoslovak footwear company. This decision changed her life forever.
“I hadn’t given marriage a second thought. I wanted to study and become the best architect in the world. On the other hand, Thomas was completely different from all the other young men I knew. None of my friends had any idea what purpose their future lives were meant to serve. They were finding their way. Tomáš had a clear vision of what he wanted to do. That really impressed me. For all his pragmatism, he was an idealist who wanted to change the world. And he had courage,” recalled Sonja Bata years ago in an interview for MF DNES Magazine.
Throughout their sixty-two years of marriage, right up until the death of Thomas Bata Jr. in 2008, she shared his boundless devotion to the family business and his pride in the way it contributed to the social and economic well-being of employees, countries and communities in which the company operated, not to mention the fact that she played a significant role in building the global Bata organisation. Together with her husband, she undertook business trips to the farthest corners of the world, and with unwavering dedication they also devoted themselves to a range of charitable activities. For example, they supported Mother Teresa’s mission and her orphans in Calcutta, and collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund and other organisations.
Furthermore, during her joint business trips with Thomas Bata Jr., she was captivated by the diversity of both traditional and unusual footwear. In 1985, she therefore approached the architect Raymond Moriyama to design the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. It was there that her extensive collection of historical and contemporary footwear was to find its home, a collection which, through shoes, tells the story of human history and culture.
“You know, you could say that I devoted my life to my husband. After all, my mother did the same. But that’s just one way of looking at it. I was drawn into the shoemaking trade – I even have a shoemaker’s apprenticeship certificate. And I fell in love with the industry,” she revealed in the interview in question.
Even after her husband’s death, she did not cease to fulfil their shared ideal of responsible capitalism. In recent years, she has also focused on the revitalisation of Batawa, the shoemaking town founded by Thomas Bata Jr. after he emigrated to Canada in 1939. Her aim was to develop this place as a model of a sustainable community.
Sonja Bata has always been characterised by extraordinary vision, unflagging vitality and consistency. She devoted her life to striving for excellence in countless fields. Although she spent most of her life with her family in Canada, she also maintained close ties with Zlín, to which she returned regularly.
“We first met after the revolution, when she came to visit Zlín with her husband. And then, in particular, after the foundation was established; she followed its activities in great detail and welcomed the updates I sent her by email. She also used to come regularly and very much enjoyed attending the May Day celebrations,” added Pavel Velev, long-standing director of the Thomas Bata Foundation.
“Mrs Sonja was an exceptional figure, whose name and life’s work are highly regarded throughout the world. It was an extraordinary honour for our university to have this lady on its board of trustees and to benefit from her valuable advice,” said Petr Sáha, former rector of Tomas Bata University in Zlín, noting that Sonja Bata had been an active member of its board of trustees since 2008. He also recalled that in 2012 the university awarded her an honorary doctorate.
Sonja Bata was a firm believer in public service and gradually became a leading figure in a number of voluntary organisations. She served, for example, on the National Design Council, World Wildlife Fund Canada, Junior Achievement of Canada, North York General Hospital, the Council for Business and the Arts in Canada, the Council for Canadian Unity, the Royal Military College of Canada and York University.
As Chair of the National Design Council of Canada, she worked with the Canadian government and international organisations to promote high-quality design in products, construction and urban planning. She also served on the boards of several companies, educational institutions and charitable organisations. In the business sector, she held senior positions at Alcan Aluminium Limited, CT Financial, the Canadian Commercial Corporation and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
She also served as Chair of the Bata Shoe Foundation and was involved in other organisations associated with the Bata company. As a loyal citizen, she was particularly proud to have become the longest-serving Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy. For many years, she was also a member of the Board of the Royal Military College.
She received a number of prestigious awards for her work and lifelong contributions. These included the Officer of the Order of Canada, the Retail Council of Canada Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, the CESO Award for International Development, the B’Nai Brith Humanitarian Award and the Silver Medal of the United Nations Environment Programme. She was awarded honorary doctorates by a total of eight universities in Canada and Europe.
Sonja Bata died on 20 February 2018 in Toronto, Canada, at the age of ninety-one. Together with Thomas Bata Jr., she raised four children – daughters Monica, Christine and Rosemarie, and son Thomas George.
