Canadian investment manager and philanthropist Stephen Jarislowsky has died at age 101.
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Stephen Jarislowsky, a Canadian investment manager known for ethical business advocacy and major charitable work, has died at 101, according to a statement from his family.
Born in Germany in 1925, Jarislowsky founded Jarislowsky Fraser & Co. from scratch in 1955 and built the Montreal firm into what was at one point Canada’s largest pension fund manager.
After working in Kingston, Ont., Montreal and New York, he returned to Montreal to establish his eponymous firm with $100 of his money and $50 from a partner.
He led Jarislowsky Fraser for more than six decades before stepping down in 2012, when the firm was managing about $40 billion in assets, and Scotiabank later bought the firm in 2018 for $950 million.
Jarislowsky was also noted for philanthropy, including establishing dozens of research chairs at Canadian universities and supporting initiatives through the Jarislowsky Foundation, launched in 1991.
His business success made him worth about US$3.9 billion, according to Forbes, and his foundation’s support was described as funding almost 48 research chairs in areas including democracy, governance, the environment, health and Canadian art, donating about $10 million a year.
He received honorary degrees from 20 universities and was appointed to the Order of Canada. His citation for promotion to Companion included that he was “known for his generosity of spirit” and was “unwavering” in supporting higher education through university chairs and institutes across areas including medicine, management and the arts.
The citation also noted his advocacy for strong corporate governance and his defence of shareholders’ rights and interests.
In recent years, Jarislowsky introduced five endowed chairs intended to educate the next generation of government leaders, with a $10 million gift announced in 2022 for chairs at five Canadian universities.
In a 2022 statement announcing the gift, Jarislowsky said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other shifts toward totalitarianism raised “concerning parallels” with political threats he saw in his childhood, adding that “People need to understand historical experiences in order to prevent repeating them.”
He studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University, completed a master’s in Far Eastern studies at the University of Chicago, and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jarislowsky also served on civic, charitable and corporate boards, co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance in 2002, and was instrumental in the creation of an institute for governance in Quebec.
He leaves behind his wife Gail and three children.
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