Pierre Péladeau

Pierre Péladeau, CM OQ (April 11, 1925 – December 24, 1997) was a French-Canadian businessman. He was the founder of Quebecor Inc., a Canadian media company centered in the province of Quebec, and the father of former Parti Québécois leader Pierre Karl Péladeau.

Péladeau was born in Montreal on April 11, 1925 as the first of seven children of Henri Péladeau, a failed timber businessman. He attended an exclusive finishing school, before completing a degree in philosophy from the Université de Montréal, and a law degree at McGill University. While studying for the bar exam in 1950, Péladeau purchased a struggling community paper, Le Journal de Rosemont, with a $1,500 loan from his mother, Elmire.

In 1964, the employees of La Presse, the major Montréal French-language newspaper, went on strike, giving Péladeau the room to create his own newspaper, Le Journal de Montréal. Péladeau would create Quebecor in 1965, with Le Journel de Montréal as its flagship publication.

In 1977, Péladeau expanded Quebecor into the United States by starting a daily sports-heavy tabloid called The Philadelphia Journal, which was unsuccessful and ended its publication run in 1981. Péladeau later spoke of his failed venture and the loss of his 14 million USD investment as "the most expensive M.B.A. in the United States."

In 1983, Quebecor bought the Winnipeg Sun.

Despite Péladeau's strong support for Quebec sovereignty, he chaired a committee in charge of organization Montreal's Canada Day celebrations in 1987.

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