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“People would say, ‘You’re building 27 channels, why would you do that? I can only watch one at a time.’ But we wanted to have state of the art and choice,” Shaw said.

Over the next five decades, the company grew into one of Canada’s largest cable and satellite providers and radio and TV broadcasters. It started offering internet in 1996, spun off the media business into Corus Entertainment Inc. in 1999, launched residential telephone service in 2005 and entered the wireless market in 2016 with the purchase of Wind Mobile, now called Freedom.

Shaw stepped down as CEO in 1998 and was succeeded by his oldest son Jim, who died in 2018 after a brief illness. Son Brad became the Calgary-based company’s third CEO, but his father always remained active in the business.

“I spoke to JR every day about the business. He was engaged and interested in everything the company was doing – from the latest technology being rolled out to how we were meeting the needs of families across Western Canada,” said Brad, who will assume his father’s executive chairman role on an interim basis.

“Our tribute to him will be to continue to grow the business he loved.”

Growth was one of JR’s main motivators, said Peter Bissonnette, a former Shaw president and board member who worked with JR for 31 years.

“It was all about what is the next challenge,” said Bissonnette, who described him as a mentor and father figure.

JR led by example, a humble man who was known for building strong relationships with industry players, regulators and employees, Bissonnette said.