Longtime Rogers executive Phil Lind has died at age 80

Phil Lind, a longtime executive of Rogers Communications and confidante to founder Ted Rogers, has died at the age of 80.

“Phil worked for Rogers for 54 years, nearly 40 of them with my father and helped build Rogers into the telecom and media powerhouse it is today,” Edward Rogers, Chair of Rogers Communications, said in a statement on Sunday. “He has been involved in every key decision in the company’s history and we are forever grateful for his countless contributions.”

In his 2018 book, Right Hand Man: How Phil Lind Steered the Genius of Ted Rogers, Canada’s Foremost Entrepreneur, Lind says he first met Rogers at a Tory convention and later joined the company in 1969 as Programming Chief when the company owned two radio stations and counted 15,000 cable subscribers.

As employee number 160 at Rogers Communications, Lind claims he had a handshake deal with Rogers.

“He said, ‘Friends don’t work for friends. That’s not a good thing. Why don’t we take it year by year,” Lind recalled. He would go on to work alongside his friend for over four decades.

Lind would go on to play a major role in the growth and expansion of Rogers, whose holdings now include wireless, cable, telephone, internet, and media assets. From the Maclean Hunter deal to the Rogers-Shaw deal, Lind played an integral role in every major transaction in the company’s history.

Lind spoke about the sacrifices it took to build Rogers into the company it has become.

“[Ted] started with nothing. And so, you don’t just start with nothing and build a great company, you have to borrow, borrow, borrow. And he mortgaged his house two or three times. Anything he had.”

Lind was a tireless advocate for multilingual, multicultural and specialty programming. He was instrumental in the creation of the Rogers Group of Funds and championed Canada’s independent film and television sector. He was the architect and founder of Cable Public Affairs Channel, or CPAC, a commercial-free, not-for-profit bilingual television service owned by a consortium that includes Rogers.

He was also the driving force behind simultaneous programming substitution, were Canadian channels can overlay local commercials over American programming. “Without it, we wouldn’t have a Canadian TV broadcasting system today,” he said.

An avid sports fan, it was Lind who persuaded Rogers to acquire the Toronto Blue Jays in 2000 and he had a major hand in the company’s acquisition of Sportsnet, Canada’s second all-sports network.

In 2002, Lind was appointed to the Order of Canada. Ten years later, he was inducted into the U.S. Cable Hall of Fame, the third Canadian to be so honoured at the time.

An outdoor enthusiast and fly fisherman, Lind was the founding chairman of The Sierra Club of Ontario, and served on the Boards of the Canadian Nature Federation, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and The Centre for The Great Lakes.

“Phil has been a constant steady force for over five decades,” added Rogers. “We will miss his deep devotion, relentless determination, and sage counsel.”

Lind is survived by his children Sarah and Jed, daughter-in-law Jessica, grand-children James and Jack and his long-time partner Ellen.

Rogers Communications is the parent company of this website.

Files from John Ackerman were used in this report