Mihal "Mike" Lazaridis was born on March 14,1961 and is a Canadian businessman, investor in quantum computing technologies, and founder of BlackBerry, which created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device.
14 Facts About Mike Lazaridis
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Mike Lazaridis served in various positions including co-chairman and co-CEO of BlackBerry from 1984 to 2012 and Board Vice Chair and Chair of the Innovation Committee from 2012 to 2013.
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Mike Lazaridis is a former chancellor of the University of Waterloo, and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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Mike Lazaridis was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Pontic Greek parents, Nick and Dorothy Mike Lazaridis with original lineage to the island of Chios.
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Mike Lazaridis was five years old when his family moved to Canada in 1966, settling in Windsor, Ontario.
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In 1984, Mike Lazaridis responded to a request for proposal from General Motors to develop a network computer control display system.
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Mike Lazaridis dropped out of university that year, just two months before he was scheduled to graduate.
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In 2000, Mike Lazaridis founded and donated more than $170 million to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
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On October 21,1999, Mike Lazaridis received an honorary doctor of engineering degree from the University of Waterloo, and in June 2003, he became its eighth chancellor.
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Mike Lazaridis was listed on Maclean's Honour Roll as a distinguished Canadian in 2000 and named Canada's Nation Builder of the Year for 2002 by readers of The Globe and Mail newspaper.
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Father of what has become known as the smartphone, Mike Lazaridis is recognized in the global wireless community as a visionary, innovator and engineer of extraordinary talent.
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Mike Lazaridis is the founder of RIM and the creator of the BlackBerry.
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Mike Lazaridis received an Academy Award in 1999 for technical achievements relating to the creation of a high-speed barcode reader used in film editing.
14.
Mike Lazaridis is portrayed in the 2023 film BlackBerry by Jay Baruchel.