The entrepreneur and philanthropist, André Chagnon, the cable man, died on the night of Friday to Saturday at the age of 94, his family announced in a press release.
Posted at 2:15 p.m.
Updated at 3:43 p.m.
Born in the Ahuntsic district of Montreal in 1928, André Chagnon founded an electrical services company ER Chagnon et Fils in 1957, at the age of 29. He sold it seven years later to found Télécâble Vidéotron in 1964, barely twelve years after television entered Canada.
First a regional cable television company, Videotron would become over the years the 3e largest cable company in Canada and the first in Quebec.
In the company of Pierre Péladeau, Paul Desmarais, Laurent Beaudoin, Jean Coutu, the Lemaire brothers, Rémi Marcoux, Serge Godin, André Gagnon is part of this generation of entrepreneurs who participated in taking control of the Quebec economy by French speakers.
A visionary, Mr. Chagnon multiplies acquisitions over the years.
In 1980, he got hold of Câblevision Nationale. Five years later, he listed the Videotron group on the Stock Exchange. Followed in 1986, the purchase of Télé-Métropole (which will become TVA Group) which he sold in 1997 during the acquisition of CF Cable.
In the meantime, Mr. Chagnon had launched the Protectron home security service (1988), Videotron SuperClubs (1989) and Internet service (1996).
PHOTO PAUL-HENRI TALBOT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
André Chagnon in 1984
In 2000, the sale of Videotron provoked an epic battle between Rogers, of Toronto, and Quebecor, the candidate of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, then Videotron’s second largest shareholder. Quebecor Media finally won the bet by acquiring Videotron for $4.9 billion.
After the transaction, Mr. Chagnon left Videotron after a 37-year career and set up the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, the largest family foundation in Canada, with a donation of 1.4 billion.
The entrepreneur and philanthropist has collected honors over the years. In 2002, he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. An officer of both the Ordre national du Québec and the Order of Canada, Mr. Chagnon has been awarded an honorary doctorate by each of McGill, Concordia, HEC Montréal and Ottawa universities.
Recipient of the National Assembly’s Medal of Honor, André Chagnon was named a Great Montrealer by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, and a Great Builder of the Quebec Economy by the Institute for the Governance of Private and public.
When his death was announced, tributes poured in.
“Quebec is losing a brilliant and visionary man with the death of André Chagnon. I have consulted it since I have been in politics, said Quebec Premier François Legault on his Twitter account. By founding the cable company Vidéotron, Mr. Chagnon shaped the Quebec of today. His social involvement with the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation to prevent poverty has been exceptional. »
“Today we are losing a real monument. My condolences to the family and loved ones, said in a tweet the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec Dominique Anglade. Mr. Chagnon was a great man involved in many charities and founder of the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation. Thank you Mr. Chagnon »
“Mr. André Chagnon, for whom my father had great esteem, was able to recognize and grasp the full importance, like the potential, of the telecommunications sector for the benefit of Quebecers by founding Videotron,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, current president and CEO of Videotron, on the Twitter feed.