Meet BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis

Blackberry’nin Kurucusu İstanbul doğumlu Lazaridis şirketteki görevini bırakıyor.

Mike Lazaridis, the co-founder of BlackBerry (formerly known as Research In Motion), is leaving the company as vice chairman and board director. Here are some biographical details on him.

Name: Mike Lazaridis

Age: 52

Born: March 14, 1961, in Istanbul, Turkey

Hometown: Windsor, Ontario, since moving to Canada as a kid in 1966.

Education: Attended University of Waterloo in electrical engineering. Dropped out to start RIM. Later, While leading RIM, he served as the school’s chancellor.

Family: Married with two kids.

Career:

* Invented BlackBerry and co-founded RIM in 1984, during his last year at college.

* Stepped down as co-CEO in January 2012, became vice chairman and board director.

* Leaving RIM on May 1.

* Recently co-founded a $100 million venture capital fund called Quantum Valley Investments, to focus on the power of quantum computing.

Community:

* Founded the Quantum-Nano Centre in Waterloo in 2012.

* Founded the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in 2002.

* Established the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2000.

* Has spent $270 million in the community, including $170 million on Perimeter.

Early achiever: He won a prize at age 12 for reading every science book in the Windsor Public Library.

The Arts: Won Academy Award and Emmy Award for technical achievements for developing a high-speed bar-code reader that has helped speed up film editing.

Quote: “I’m very proud of what we built at RIM together. I believe I’m leaving the company in good hands.”

Wealth: Lazaridis’ stake in RIM was worth more than $3 billion at its peak in 2008, according to Forbes magazine, but the value has fallen to about $440 million amid the company’s declining stock price.

via Meet BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis – Times Of India.