Mike Lazaridis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mihal "Mike" Lazaridis, OC, O.Ont (born March 14, 1961, Istanbul, Turkey) is the founder and co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), which created and manufactures the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. He is also the chancellor of the University of Waterloo, and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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[edit] Personal, education, and career history
Born in Turkey to Greek parents, Lazaridis was five years old when his family moved to Canada in 1966, settling in Windsor, Ontario. At age 12, he won a prize at the Windsor Public Library for reading every science book in the library.[1] In 1979, 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 he was scheduled to graduate, having been offered a lucrative contract from General Motors 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, and would later develop the BlackBerry.
He is married to Ophelia Lazaridis and they have two children, Cleo Lazaridis and Kern Lazaridis.
[edit] 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.
On June 4, 2008, a further donation of $50 million to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics was announced.
[edit] 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 [2].
