Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Rogers, Billionaire and Communications Pioneer, Dies

 Ted Rogers Jr., the Canadian who turned a Toronto radio station into an eponymous communications empire worth billions, died this morning. He was 75.He died just after midnight of heart failure at his home in Toronto, according to Jan Innes, a spokeswoman at Rogers Communications Inc., the company Rogers founded almost 50 years ago and turned into Canada’s largest cable television and wireless carrier. He had suffered from deteriorating health recently, the company said.

Rogers, who only relinquished his duties as chief executive officer in October, ranked second on Canadian Business magazine’s “Rich 100” list last year. He had an estimated net worth of C$7.6 billion ($6.1 billion), trailing only the Thomson family.

“He took risks, he took a lot of risks, and some didn’t work out, but that didn’t deter him from keeping going,” said Jim Pattison, 80, CEO of Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group, Canada’s third-largest closely held company. “In my lifetime, he was the No. 1 entrepreneur in Canada.” He held sixth place on the “Rich 100” list, with C$4.52 billion.

Rogers started with a lone FM radio station during law school, borrowing money to acquire CHFI-FM in 1960, now Canada’s largest radio station, according to the company.

read the rest published by Bloomberg here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=auWeQKT7PWUg