Rogers family matriarch, director
Loretta Rogers, the matriarch of the Rogers family and longtime director at telecom giant Rogers Communications Inc., has died at the age of 83.
Her daughter Martha Rogers confirmed her death in a tweet issued on Saturday, calling her mother a “beautiful soul” who “possessed an incredible strength of character.”
“We plan to honour and build upon her many invaluable contributions in business, charity and community,” read a statement from the family shared as part of the same tweet.
Loretta Rogers was the widow of company founder Ted Rogers, who died in 2008. She had served as a corporate director since 1964 and was a member of the advisory committee of the Rogers Control Trust.
There isn't yet a sense of what will happen to her board seat or whether it will be filled.
The company issued a statement Saturday saying she “believed passionately” in her late husband's vision for Rogers. “Following Ted's death, Loretta devoted herself to keeping his vision alive and making Rogers the absolute best it could be,” the statement said.
Loretta Rogers was one of several family members at the centre of a struggle for control of the company last fall that began when her son, corporate chair Edward Rogers, attempted to oust then chief executive Joe Natale.
She and two of her daughters, also board members, opposed Edward's move, saying it went against the company's governance practices.
Loretta Rogers had initially supported her son's push to replace Natale but later said she was misled about his reasons for wanting to remove him.
The family feud ultimately led to a board vote to push Edward Rogers from his seat as company chair. Edward Rogers then penned a shareholder resolution — without a shareholder meeting — to oust the five directors who had defied him.
The company filed a legal challenge to his revamped board, sparking a court battle over who actually served on it. On Nov. 5, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled Edward's declaration legitimate.
In the statement Edward Rogers offered his own recollections: “We are grieving for an amazing woman who had love and compassion in her heart, kindness in her soul, and who possessed an incredible strength of character.”