Nadir Mohamed, a former Rogers executive and CPPIB board director, died Thursday.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Nadir Mohamed, a prominent business leader and former president and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., has died.
Mr. Mohamed was chair of Alignvest Management Corp. and a director of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board until last year. He was active in Canada’s entrepreneurship community and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2019.
Mr. Mohamed was CEO of Rogers Communications from March, 2009, to December, 2013.
He joined Rogers in 2000 and served as CEO of Rogers Wireless from 2001 through 2005, when he was appointed COO of Rogers Communications Group.
In a statement, Edward Rogers, executive chair of Rogers and son of founder Ted Rogers, said Mr. Mohamed contributed immensely to the country and to the company’s success.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Nadir. Nadir was an exceptional leader, a deeply respected executive and a generous person who led Rogers during an extraordinary time of change for our company and industry,” Mr. Rogers said.
Tony Staffieri, president and chief executive officer of Rogers, said Mr. Mohamed meaningfully contributed to Rogers’s legacy and passionately contributed to Canada’s innovation agenda. “He was a gracious leader and a true class act,” Mr. Staffieri said.
Mr. Mohamed also served three terms on Toronto Metropolitan University’s board of governors and had been appointed for a three-year honorary term in 2023.
Mr. Mohamed was a founding board member of the Vector Institute, co-founder of ScaleUp Ventures and chair of DMZ Ventures, as well as a board member of Tennis Canada, UHN Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, and a founding board member of entrepreneurship initiatives Next Canada.
In a note to current and former members of Vector, Alan Veerman, chief operations and finance officer, said Mr. Mohamed died on Thursday.
“We are grateful for his service to Vector, as well as Canada more broadly, and will miss him deeply,” Mr. Veerman said.
Mr. Mohamed has been engaged in a variety of community organizations and over the past few years had focused on advancing innovation in Canada.
“Nadir possessed a rare combination of deep intelligence, intellectual curiosity, and humility that will be sorely missed” said John Ruffalo, founder and managing partner of Maverix Private Equity.
Canadian entrepreneur Reza Satchu had been close friends with Mr. Mohamed since the early 2000s when Mr. Satchu’s parents convinced him to invite Mr. Mohamed and his wife to a dinner party he was hosting.
They shared a history as Ismaili immigrants who had landed in Canada and quickly hit it off. “We were both kind of outsiders looking in and trying to make our way.”
In the last several years, Mr. Mohamed was battling several forms of cancer, Mr. Satchu said. But his sense of humour hardly faltered, and they shared lighthearted moments together while he was waiting to receive stem cell treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Mr. Mohamed cared deeply about giving back to the country he had immigrated to, Mr. Satchu said.
“Nadir, at his core, was someone who really wanted to see others succeed and build things. He cared a great amount about Canada,” Mr. Satchu said.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of John Ruffolo.