Paul Desmarais—self-made billionaire, friend of prime ministers and presidents, as the CBC describes him—died at the age of 86 on Tuesday night. He acquired control of the Power Corporation in 1968 and turned it into an international management and holding company.
He passed the reigns to his sons in 1996, Paul Jr. and André.
The corporation had $527 billion in total consolidated assets and assets under management as of December 2012, according to a company press release.
Desmarais had an estimated personal net worth of about $4.4 billion and was ranked seventh richest Canadian in 2012 by Canadian Business magazine.
Two former prime ministers, Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin, worked for Power Corp., reports CBC.
He was born in Sudbury, Ontario, in 1927 and was francophone. He ran the family-owned Sudbury Bus Lines after graduating from the University of Ottawa, eventually acquiring other lines before branching out into other business. Power Corp. is best known for its insurance and investment subsidiaries, listed by the Globe and Mail: Great West Lifeco, London Life, Investors Group and Mackenzie Financial.
