Founder Of Rogers Communications Passes Away At 75

December 2, 2008 12:16 p.m. EST

Toronto, Ontario (AHN) - The founder of Canada's largest cable-television and mobile phone firm passed away in his Toronto residence Tuesday at 75. Ted Rogers, an icon in Canadian media, had been hospitalized since October due to a heart ailment.

Rogers is also one of the wealthiest persons in Canada. He built his media empire from one FM radio station. He temporarily passed on Rogers Communications to Alan Horn, the chairman and acting chief executive officer of the company.

Aside from his media firm, Rogers' business empire includes the Toronto Blue Jays, the Rogers Center, five television stations and several magazines.

According to a statement from Rogers Communications, a permanent chief executive officer will be named by its board. A special committee will be formed to headhunt for Rogers' permanent successor from within and outside his media empire.

Robin Korthals, ex president of the Toronto Dominion Bank, who had a four-decade business relationship with Rogers since he was the first to extend the budding entrepreneur a bank loan 40 years ago, said, quoted by the Globe and Mail, "He was not a strong person and he had a pretty vulnerably physique, but as long as there was a deal in the air that he could sniff, he would make it."