Ron Osborne, the longtime Canadian media and telecom executive who began his career as a chartered accountant, died suddenly on Monday in Florida. The 66-year-old Osborne was described in an announcement put out by Postmedia (where he was chairman of the board) as a “rare breed of executive” whose business expertise was sought after by several Canadian private and public companies as a member of their boards of directors.
Osborne, who emigrated from the United Kingdom in 1968, joined Maclean Hunter in 1981. He worked there for 13 years, the last eight as the company’s president and CEO, and left shortly after the company was acquired by Rogers in 1994.
From 1995 to 1998 Osborne was a senior executive within the BCE Group of Companies, which included a stint as president and CEO of Bell Canada. He took on the same position Ontario Power Generation in 1998, and remained with the utility until 2003.
Throughout his tenure as a major player in corporate Canada, Osborne sat on multiple boards of directors, most recently as chair of Postmedia Network. Postmedia was formed through the acquisition of the former Canwest Global Communications publishing assets, which included 11 major daily newspapers, including the National Post.
Osborne was also a member of the Canadian Coalition of Cultural Expression (CCCE), a group representing the cable and satellite TV industries, which was responsible for appointing the first chair to the Canada Media Fund created in 2009.
He was also a member of the board for Tim Hortons, Sun Life Financial, Brookfield Renewable Power Inc., RioCan Real Estate Investment Fund, as well as a former board member for Torstar and other organizations.
