Quick Facts
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André Chagnon, OC OQ (born March 17th, 1928) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of an electrician, he began his work career by laying underground cables, eventually starting his own contracting company Chagnon Electric, in 1957, which he later sold to his employees. In 1964, he founded the cable company Le Groupe Vidéotron which grew into one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies.
Retiring in 2000, he set up the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon, an organization working to prevent poverty and illness in families, which has $1.4 billion in assets and is the largest foundation in Canada.
He has been recognized throughout his career. In 1995, he was one of the four industrial leaders invited by the Government of Canada to take part in the G-7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, held in Brussels. Also in 1995, he was named to the Information Highway Advisory Council. He has been an officer of the Order of Canada since 1993, and was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2002. His outstanding efforts through his foundation were recognized in 2003 when he was named a co-recipient of the Medal for Exceptional Contributions to Early Childhood Development, awarded by the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. In 2005, he was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Lifetime Achievement award.
Chagnon had a net worth of $474 million CDN in 2006.
His wife and partner, Lucie Dolan-Chagnon, dies at age 84 on August 17, 2014.
Honours
- In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
- In 2002, he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
- In 2003, he was made an Officer of l'Ordre national du Québec.
- In 2004, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa.
- In 2005, he was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Lifetime Achievement award.