Nova Scotia self-made businessman and philanthropist Charles Keating, 72, died Tuesday prompting condolences and tributes from community leaders.

More than six and a half feet tall, Keating was an imposing presence in the boardroom. But he wasn't born into business.

Charles Keating receiving the Order of Canada in 2003
Charles Keating receiving the Order of Canada in 2003

As a child, Greg Keating says his father used his size for farmwork, one of his first jobs was shovelling pig manure. That was when the entrepreneurial bug bit him.

"He decided one day when they were divvying up the money in the family, what they had, that he said, 'I'm going to get me a bigger piece of the pie,'" Keating said of his father.

Charlie Keating blazed trails in the real estate industry, opening one of Nova Scotia's first strip malls in Porter's Lake near Dartmouth but it was in the cable television industry that he rose to prominence. He owned of one of Nova Scotia's first cable companies, Dartmouth Cable, which he later sold for $200 million.

Now that he had his bigger piece of the pie, it was time to share, and share he did, right up until he was diagnosed with renal cancer in September.

"I came across three different cheques that he was writing for students going to universities," said his son Greg. "And it just so happened that none of them were going to StFX! They were all going to other universities, he was paying their tuition, yes."

A graduate of St. Francis Xavier University, himself, Keating donated $5 million for an athletic centre and auditorium which today bear his name.

Sean Riley, president of StFX, said Keating's death is a great loss to the school.

Keating nursed r the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre back to health when it was in financial trouble.

His good works did not go unrecognized. Keating received the Order of Canada in 2003, won the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and was named Outstanding Individual Philanthropist at the Atlantic Region Awards for Philanthropy in 1994.

Keating was also a long-time supporter of Nova Scotia's Liberal Party.

But Liberal house leader Manning MacDonald will not remember him for what he did for the party, but what he did for others.

"He did distribute his wealth to many needy causes, including his tremendous gift to StFX university," MacDonald said.

"He's a person who has helped people thoughout his life, and many of the things he has done throughout his life have gone unreported, because that's the way Charlie Keating would have wanted it,"he added.

Dartmouth Liberal MP Michael Savage remembered Keating as a "larger-than-life" figure.

"What I will remember about Charles, is just how many things he did for people,and how often you would run into somebody in the community who had a story to tell about Charles that was done very quietly 'cause people sort of think of Charles as larger than life and he made some very large sizeable contributions, but I think of the greater contribution a lot of people will never know about and that's the things he did quietly for people in need," Savage said.

Keating, who once ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Dartmouth counted former mayor and Halifax municipal counsellor Gloria McClusky among his friends.

She said she will remember him as "a very kind and caring person" who could be tough and was a great businessman.

His funeral will be held on Friday.