BioWare founders ‘The Doctors’ named to the Order of Canada
Vegreville Olympic skier Scott honoured for work in anti-doping, youth sports
Greg Zeschuk and his OTTAWA friend Ray Muzyka took a winding path to make it on the list of new appointments to the Order of Canada unveiled Thursday.
It started in medical school in the 1980s when the two became friends, and grew as they combined their mutual interest in software development to create the Edmonton-based firm BioWare in 1995.
Eventually, the two gave up family medicine for gaming and, after 17 years, BioWare has grown into a leader in role-playing games and won industry accolades for the two men, known as “The Doctors.”
Zeschuk now runs breweries and a restaurant in Edmonton that focuses on hosting charitable events. Muzyka heads ThresholdImpact, a firm he founded to help mentor socially-conscious entrepreneurs hoping to grow their businesses.
Both men said they have no plans to rest on their laurels in light of the new honour.
“I find it in a way sort of motivating in that OK ... now, I’ve got to do more,” said Zeschuk.
Muzyka joked in a recent interview that he’s still not sure what he’s going to do when he grows up.
“I hope I continue to figure out something interesting to do. I like learning, I like helping people — those are common themes,” he said.
Meanwhile, when Beckie Scott left behind her competitive crosscountry ski career in 2006, the Olympic gold medallist didn’t foresee the path she would take next.
A dozen years later, the athlete from Vegreville has become a leading international voice to root out doping in sports and heads a charity that runs programs for Indigenous youth to use sports and play to improve social and economic outcomes.
For that work, Scott was also appointed to the Order of Canada.