Pierre Péladeau

Biography

Born with Outremont from a father contractor out of construction materials who went bankrupt during the Grande depression, Pierre Péladeau makes studies in Philosophie with the Université of Montreal and in Droit to the Université McGill, before beginning a career from Business man which will last nearly one half-century.

He began as street pedlar and continued his career as editor in 1950, by acquiring of a Hebdomadaire diffused in the district montréalais Rosemont, with 1500 $ that he borrowed from his mother. Very early, it is interested in the vertical Intégration of its various companies. It starts successively several newspapers - weekly magazines of district and newspapers with pewters - which are composed and printed in a Imprimerie of which it became purchaser. Then, it sets up a mail service of press, the dynamic Messageries , to diffuse its publications. It founds Quebecor in 1965, in order to gather the whole of its companies in the field of the edition.

Benefitting from a work-related conflict which paralyzes the newspaper the Press , Péladeau launches a new daily newspaper, the Newspaper of Montreal , the June 15th 1964. Of format Tabloïd, the new newspaper develops a formula inspired of the popular Presse British, which rests on four elements, the four S : sex , blood , sport and spectacles . With the passing of years, it recruits journalists high-speed motorboats: some are with unemployment because of the vicissitudes of the political life, like Rene Lévesque, others will be torn off with competition; it was the case of Jacques Beauchamp and André Rufiange. the Newspaper , as it is called, becomes gradually the French-speaking daily more sold in America with a daily pulling of 300000 specimens.

March 6th, 1967, Péladeau founds another daily newspaper of the morning, the Newspaper of Quebec , which proposes the same formula that its counterpart montréalais. Initially printed in Montreal, the Newspaper of Quebec is on the spot printed as of 1972. Like the Newspaper of Montreal , it becomes the daily newspaper more sold in the Vieille capital , with a little more than 100.000 specimens.

During three decades following, Péladeau, which directs its group of an iron hand, will multiply acquisitions, in the field of the press and printing works, and will launch tens of new publications.

In 1977, it tries its chance by opening a first daily newspaper with the the United States, the Philadelphia Daily News .

The March 15th 1988, it joins Rupert Murdoch in order to launch a tabloïd of English language to Montreal to compete with The Gazette . The Montreal Daily News fermere its doors after 21 month of operation because of its weak pulling, which reached only 12.000 specimens.

Although the Québécois daily newspapers that it founded ever published of leading, Pierre Péladeau was personally in favor of the sovereignty of Quebec. He in addition came to assistance of some felquists, such as Denis Lamoureux and Pierre Schneider.

Its common patois was " clisse".

Patronage

Enthusiastic admiror of the prose of Balzac, the philosophy of Plato and the music of Beethoven, Péladeau liberally contributed to the rectification of the metropolitan Orchestre of Large Montreal, from which he was successively the benefactor, at a rate of 500000 [[Canadian dollar CAN]] per year, then the president, in 1987. In 1991, it gives 1 CAN million to the Université from Quebec in Montreal for the construction of a theater, the Center Pierre-Péladeau . In 1996 it gave a sum of 1 CAN million to the bottom of assistance for the disaster victims of the flood of Saguenay.

With the catches with a problem of Alcoholism and acknowledged member of the Alcoholics anonymouses, Péladeau finances during more than 20 years a processing center of this disease with Ivry-on-the-Lake, in the Laurentides. After its death, the processing center was famous Pavillon Pierre-Péladeau .

It also chaired several financing campaigns for charitable organizations, of which the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal, where it is deceased.

Honors

1984 - Price Chomedey-with-Maisonneuve of the Company Saint-Jean-Baptist of Montreal
1985 - honorary Doctorate of the University of Quebec
1987 - Member of the Order of Canada
1988 - Member of the Order of Merit
1989 - Officer of the National order of Quebec
1997 - Doctorate in sciences of the administration honoris causa of the University Laval
1998 - Knight of the Legion of honor (on a purely posthumous basis)
???? - Medal of the Edouard-Montpetit Foundation of the University of Montreal

Random links: