Edward S. “Ted” Rogers was a Canadian icon who built Rogers Communications into a leader in wireless telecommunications, cable television, broadcasting, and publishing. The Rogers name is well known throughout the wireless industry and is synonymous with innovative, high-quality communications products and services across Canada.

Ted belonged to a family of high achievers whose accomplishments exceeded those of their famous parents. His father, Edward Rogers Sr., who was hailed world-wide in the early 20th century as a “boy genius”, went on to invent the electrical plug-in radio and work on other devices that are now part of our daily lives, from television to radar. Edward died in 1939 at the early age of 38. “I was five years old when he died,” Ted reflected. “And from then on my mother instilled in me a great capacity to work and rebuild what had been lost and never, ever give up.”

Indeed, Ted did not give up. Rogers Communications grew under his leadership and today it is one of the “Big Three” telecommunications companies in Canada. An eternal optimist, Ted always focused on the next big deal he could do or the next great innovation he could bring to market—from FM radio and crystal-clear cable TV reception in the 1960s, to cellular phones in the 1980s, to today’s high-speed Internet for the home, and wireless email, video and web browsing for handheld devices. Rogers Communications owns Canada’s largest wireless telecommunications and cable companies and is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. The company owns the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre, over 40 radio stations, and several television properties. Forbes magazine once called Ted Rogers “Canada’s most obsessed-about media mogul” and a “Lion in Winter.”

In 1990, Ted was made an Officer of The Order of Canada and in 1994 was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. In 2002, he was the first Canadian inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame, and Ted and his wife Loretta were named Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, having supported charitable groups and academic institutions.

A graduate of the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, Ted was a lawyer by training, but an entrepreneur by nature. Over the years, he was awarded eight honorary doctorates from North American universities. Ted passed away in his home at the age of 75 on December 2, 2008. In 2010, Ted was posthumously inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame. Craig McCaw presented the award to Ted’s daughter, Melinda Rogers, at the inaugural Wireless Hall of Fame awards dinner in San Francisco. Ted is one of only two individuals to be inducted in both the Cable Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame.