Hundreds gather for funeral of cable giant, Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 | 7:03 AM ET
CBC News
Pallbearers carry the casket of Ted Rogers to a waiting hearse at St. James Cathedral in Toronto on Tuesday. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)Political dignitaries were among the hundreds of mourners who attended the funeral on Tuesday for Canadian media magnate Ted Rogers, who died last week at his home at the age of 75.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former prime ministers Brian Mulroney and John Turner attended the service, held at St. James Cathedral in Toronto.
Turner and Mulroney's wife Mila sat between Mulroney and Harper, who has kept his distance from the former prime minister since announcing a public probe into the Mulroney/Schreiber affair.
Alan Horn, chairman of Rogers Communications, told the congregation that Rogers was a "man who lived large and dreamt large."
Horn said Rogers had a "mischievous" sense of humour and believed in hard work and the importance of family-owned businesses.
Rogers, founder and CEO of Rogers Communications, had been suffering from heart problems for weeks.
He is survived by his wife, Loretta, whom he married in 1963, and their four children — Edward, Lisa, Melinda and Martha. Both Edward and Melinda have been suggested as possible replacements to head the company.
Up until his death, Rogers had continued to play an active role in the company he founded in 1960.
It owns the Toronto Blue Jays, five Citytv television stations across the country, as well as the Rogers cable TV, wireless, radio and magazine businesses.
With files from the Canadian Press
