| Mike Lazaridis |
Article Index for Mike |
Website Links For Mike |
Information AboutMike Lazaridis |
|
PERSONAL, EDUCATION, AND CAREER HISTORY Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Lazaridis was five years old when his family moved to for the nascent RIM. With a $15,000 loan from his parents, a small government grant and a contract from General Motors, he, Mike Barnstijn and Douglas Fregin launched RIM , which would become one of Canada's largest and most successful high-tech companies. 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 eighth Chancellor . He was named ''Canada's Nation Builder of the Year'' for 2002 by readers of the Globe And Mail newspaper. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order Of Canada and a member of the Order Of Ontario Order of Ontario appointments announced . EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES |
|
|