Pierre Péladeau
{{Short description|Canadian businessman (1925–1997)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pierre Péladeau
| image = PierrePeladeauEtMamanPartyJnlDeMtlResidenceSteAdele-cropped 2.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|4|12}}
| birth_place = Montreal, Canada
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|12|24|1925|4|12}}
| death_place = Montreal, Canada
| alma_mater = Université de Montréal
McGill University
| occupation = Businessman
| children = 7, including Érik and Pierre Karl
}}
Pierre Péladeau {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|OQ}} (April 12, 1925 – December 24, 1997) was a Canadian businessman. He was the founder of Quebecor Inc., a Canadian media and telecommunications conglomerate in Quebec, Canada.
He was the father of billionaire Pierre Karl Péladeau, former Parti Québécois leader.
Biography
Pierre Péladeau was born in Montreal, Canada, on April 12, 1925, as the youngest of seven children of Henri Péladeau, who had a successful timber business. While Henri Péladeau was on a sales trip to Europe in 1929, the stock market crashed and on his return to Montreal he found that his two partners had taken control of the business. This event undoubtedly affected Pierre Peladeau's attitude to business and his business partners.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/27/business/pierre-peladeau-72-leading-quebec-newspaper-publisher.html|title=Pierre Peladeau, 72, Leading Quebec Newspaper Publisher|last=Depalma|first=Anthony|date=December 27, 1997|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=4 May 2016}}
Péladeau had four children – Erik, Isabelle, Pierre Karl, and Anne-Marie – with his first wife, Raymonde Chopin, who died in 1976.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/isabelle-p%C3%A9ladeau-sister-of-pierre-karl-dies-in-car-accident-1.2438414|title=Isabelle Péladeau, sister of Pierre Karl, dies in car accident
|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|date=November 25, 2013|access-date=10 April 2025}} Pierre Karl Péladeau would serve as CEO of Quebecor before serving one year as leader of the Parti Québécois from May 2015 to May 2016. Érik Péladeau served as a former Vice-Chairman of Quebecor Inc. Péladeau had two children – Simon-Pierre and Esther – with his second wife, Line Parisien, whom he divorced and regretted it. He had a relationship with Manon Blanchette that produced one son and he ended his relationship with his long-term partner, Anne Béland.
Péladeau's time spent with Quebecor meant that he was often an absent father to his children.{{Cite news|url=https://ipolitics.ca/2016/05/03/how-one-tv-interview-with-his-ex-killed-peladeaus-political-career/|title=How one TV interview by his ex killed Péladeau's political career|last=MacDonald|first=L. Ian|date=May 3, 2016|work=iPolitics.ca|access-date=May 4, 2016}}
In 1987, Péladeau told The Globe and Mail: "I've had all the women I wanted, when I wanted them." He also openly boasted that he only spoke English when he could make a profit by doing so.
In 1989, Péladeau said that women had no place on corporate boards because "they seduce too much". In 1990, Péladeau was quoted in l'Actualite magazine saying that Jews "take up too much space'" in Quebec, and was forced to issue a statement of apology claiming that he meant it in the context of Jewish fashion designers getting the lion's share of coverage from Montreal newspapers.
Education and career
He attended College Jean-de-Brebeuf (a private school also attended by Pierre Elliott Trudeau). He then went on to complete a degree in philosophy at the Université de Montréal, and a law degree at McGill University.
While studying for the bar exam in 1950, Péladeau purchased with a $1,500 loan from his mother, Elmire, a struggling community paper, Le Journal de Rosemont, including their printing works, which became Nouvelles et Potins.
In 1964, the employees of La Presse, the major Montréal French-language newspaper, went on strike, giving Péladeau the room to create his own newspaper, Le Journal de Montréal.
= Quebecor Inc. =
Péladeau created Quebecor Inc. in 1965, with Le Journal de Montréal as its flagship publication.{{Cite news|url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/five-things-to-know-about-quebecor-378024761.html|title=Five things to know about Quebecor|date=May 3, 2016|work=Winnipeg Free Press|agency=The Canadian Press|access-date=May 4, 2016}}
In 1977, Péladeau expanded Quebecor into the United States by starting a daily sports-heavy tabloid called The Philadelphia Journal, which was unsuccessful and ended its publication run in 1981. Péladeau later spoke of his failed venture and the loss of his 14 million USD investment as "the most expensive MBA in the United States". Péladeau also went on to acquire printing businesses in France and the United Kingdom, printing Paris Match, among many other well-known publications both in Europe and the USA.
In 1983, Quebecor bought the Winnipeg Sun.
Despite Péladeau's strong support for Quebec sovereignty, he chaired a committee in charge of organization Montreal's Canada Day celebrations in 1987.
Péladeau started The Daily News of Montreal in 1988 in a partnership with British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, but the paper closed two years later.
Death and honours
Péladeau suffered a heart attack on December 24, 1997, and fell into a coma. On December 24, Péladeau died at Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Montreal at the age of 72. A private memorial ceremony for Péladeau was planned for December 29 in Sainte Adele's Pavilion des Arts.
At the time of his death, Quebecor had 6.3 billion CAD in revenue and Le Journal de Montreal was the Canadian newspaper with the third largest circulation, as well as being the largest French newspaper in Quebec. Quebecor Printing was North America's second-largest commercial printer. Péladeau left the company to his heirs, and his son, Pierre Karl Péladeau, would become president and CEO in 1999.
In 1987, Péladeau was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.
In 1999, Quebecor established an annual bursary for young Quebec entrepreneurs award in his name.{{Cite web|url=http://www.quebecor.com/en/bursaries|title=Quebecor {{!}} Pierre-Péladeau Bursaries|website=www.quebecor.com|access-date=4 May 2016}}
References
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Category:20th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people)
Category:Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery
Category:Canadian mass media company founders
Category:McGill University Faculty of Law alumni
Category:Members of the Order of Canada
Category:Officers of the National Order of Quebec
Category:People from Outremont, Quebec
Category:Quebec sovereigntists