(Montreal) André Chagnon, the founder of the telecommunications giant, Videotron, and great philanthropist, died at the age of 94, his family announced in a press release published on Saturday.
Posted at 2:15 p.m.
Updated at 2:54 p.m.
The family said that Mr. Chagnon died peacefully surrounded by his loved ones on the night of Friday to Saturday.
According to the website of the Ordre national du Québec, of which Mr. Chagnon was an officer, he “is one of the leading figures in technological innovation and in the development of avant-garde products and services in the ‘telecommunications and entertainment industry’.
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault, paid tribute to him after the announcement of the death.
“Quebec is losing a brilliant and visionary man with the death of André Chagnon. I have consulted it since I have been in politics, ”he commented on Twitter.
Born in Montreal, he seemed destined for a career as an electrician after studying at the École technique de Montréal. He went into business at the age of 31 before founding the cable company Videotron in 1964, which would become a telecommunications giant in Quebec.
Mr. Chagnon was at the head of Videotron when the company acquired Télé-Métropole in 1986, the largest private French television station in Quebec, which would become Groupe TVA 12 years later. He was appointed CEO of Télé-Métropole.
PHOTO PAUL-HENRI TALBOT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
André Chagnon in 1984
Videotron will be in the innovation, creating the Videoway multimedia system, which will be marketed in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The website of the National Order of Quebec indicates that he was appointed in 1994 to the Advisory Council on the Information Highway responsible for advising the Canadian government. The following year, he was one of four personalities who represented Canada at the G7 Ministerial Conference on the Information Society, held in Brussels in 1995.
In 2000, he sold Videotron to Quebecor Media. The money obtained from the sale enabled the Chagnon family to create the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, “a philanthropic organization endowed with significant capital and dedicated to the prevention of poverty by contributing to the establishment of favorable conditions for development of the full potential of all young people living in Quebec,” the family said in the press release.
“Thank you, Mr. Chagnon. You leave an extremely important legacy. Like you, we will remain resolutely focused on the future and will continue to pursue your ambitious objective of preventing poverty by contributing to the establishment of conditions favorable to the development of the full potential of all young people living in Quebec,” one can read. on the Foundation’s website.
André Chagnon received multiple awards throughout his life. In addition to the Ordre national du Québec, he was made an officer of the Order of Canada. He received honorary doctorates from Laval, McGill and the University of Montreal. In 1983, the Quebec Ministry of Communications awarded him the Communications Prize. More recently, in 2020, he received a tribute from the Cercle des Grands entrepreneurs du Québec for his achievements and his commitment.
In 2021, a granddaughter of André Chagnon, Garance Chagnon-Grégoire, and Joëlle Arsenault, dedicated a documentary to him. At the head of the line.
“My grandfather’s journey as a builder is important. We talked to him about this somewhat crazy subject that was going to tell his life story, and, although he is very humble by nature, he was very receptive and collaborated with joy on our documentary, “said Ms.me Chagnon-Grégoire in the magazine The Clap when the movie comes out.