André Chagnon

André Chagnon Template:Post-nominals (March 17, 1928 – October 8, 2022) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was noted for being the founder of telecommunications company Vidéotron.

Early life

Chagnon was born in the Ahuntsic neighbourhood of Montreal on March 17, 1928.<ref name=Dubuc1>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NP bio">Template:Cite news</ref> His father worked as an electrician and entrepreneur.<ref name=Historica>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Chagnon was raised near Gouin Boulevard during the Great Depression,<ref name=Boone>Template:Cite news</ref> and recounted how his family survived on "a lot of bread and molasses".<ref name=Bagnall>Template:Cite news</ref> He attended the Template:Interlanguage link from 1945 to 1949.<ref name=Parker>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Chagnon became an electrician like his father and began his work career by laying underground cables for the City of Montreal.<ref name="NP bio"/><ref name=Historica/> He eventually started his own contracting company – E. R. Chagnon et Fils<ref name=Dubuc1/> – in 1957, when he was 29.<ref name=Historica/> He later sold it to his employees. In 1964, he founded the cable company Le Groupe Vidéotron. Under his leadership, the company adopted an acquisition-based growth strategy,<ref name=Historica/> starting with the purchase of Câblevision Nationale in 1980. It went on to acquire Télé-Métropole six years later. This was ultimately sold when the company bought CF Cable in 1997.<ref name=Dubuc1/> Vidéotron was also listed on the Montreal Exchange in 1985,<ref name=Dubuc1/> and established a branch in London in 1988, before branching into the United States five years later.<ref name=Historica/> These moves led to Vidéotron becoming Canada's third-largest telecommunications company and the largest in Quebec.<ref name=Dubuc1/><ref name=Historica/>

Chagnon was one of the four industrial leaders invited by the Government of Canada to take part in the 1995 G-7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, held in Brussels. He was also named to the Information Highway Advisory Council that same year.<ref name=Historica/> Retiring in 2000, Chagnon set up the Template:Interlanguage link multi, an organization working to prevent poverty and illness in families, which has $1.4 billion in assets and was one of the largest foundations in Canada.<ref name=Historica/><ref name=Bagnall/> He had a net worth of $474 million CDN in 2006.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Chagnon was married to Lucie Dolan-Chagnon for 65 years until her death in August 2014.<ref name=Historica/><ref name="CP obit">Template:Cite news</ref> Together, they had five children. One of them, Christian, predeceased Chagnon.<ref name="CP obit"/> Chagnon became a vegetarian around the 1990s.<ref name=Bagnall/>

Chagnon died on October 8, 2022, at age 94.<ref name="CP obit"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Awards and honours

Chagnon was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in October 1992 and invested six months later in April of the following year.<ref name=Historica/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 2002.<ref name=Historica/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One year later, he was invested as an officer of the National Order of Quebec.<ref name=Historica/><ref name=OQ>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was subsequently conferred the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award by Ernst & Young.<ref name=Historica/> Chagnon was granted honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa (2004),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> McGill University (2004),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Concordia University (2004),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> HEC Montréal (2008),<ref name=Historica/> and Université Laval.<ref name=OM>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was made a commander of the Order of Montreal in its inaugural class of 2016.<ref name=OM/>

External links

• Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon
• Article at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
• Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Lifetime Achievement award
• Concordia University Honorary Degree Citation, June 2004, Concordia University Records Management and Archives