| Mike Lazaridis |
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EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Mike was five years old when his family migrated to , he enrolled at the University of Waterloo in Electrical Engineering with an Option in Computer Science. He dropped out in 1984 just two months before graduation, having been offered a lucrative contract from General Motors for the nascent RIM. He is married to Ophelia Lazaridis. They have two children, Cleo and Kern. PHILANTHROPIC WORK On October 23 , 2000 , Lazaridis founded the Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics with $100 million of personal funds, along with $10 million contributions from fellow RIM executives Jim Balsillie and Doug Fregin . On April 30 , 2004 , Lazaridis and his wife together donated $33.3 million to the University of Waterloo for its Institute for Quantum Computing. On May 3 , 2005 , Lazaridis gave an additional $17.2 million to the University of Waterloo, primarily to aid the construction of a new building jointly shared by the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Nanotechnology Engineering program. AWARDS AND ACCOLADES On October 21, 2000 he received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo, and in June 2003 became its 8th Chancellor . He was named ''Canada's Nation Builder of the Year'' for 2002 by readers of the Globe And Mail newspaper, and has received various other accolades as a result of his financial success and philanthropic efforts. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order Of Canada . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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