Lorne M. Trottier, OC (born 15 June 1948) is a Canadian engineer, businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded

Matrox Matrox Graphics, Inc. is a producer of video card components and equipment for personal computers and workstations. Based in Dorval, Quebec, Canada, it was founded in 1976 by Lorne Trottier and Branko Matić. The name is derived from "Ma" in Mat ...

, a computer corporation that specializes in computer graphics. Trottier sits as an advisor to Canada's Ecofiscal Commission.

Personal

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Trottier graduated from

Baron Byng High School Baron Byng High School was an English-language public high school on Saint Urbain Street in Montreal, Quebec, opened by Governor General of Canada Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy in 1921. The school was attended largely by working-class J ...

and thereafter received a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering in 1970 and a Masters of Engineering in the same field in 1973 both from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

. He has had a lifelong interest in science:

Philanthropy

Trottier has repeatedly made significant donations to his alma mater McGill. In 2000 his gift of $10 million funded construction of the Lorne M. Trottier Building, home to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Computer Science. In 2006 his second gift of $12 million created two Lorne Trottier

Chairs A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vari ...

at the school, one in Aerospace Engineering and the other in Astrophysics and

Cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

. In 2012 he donated $15 million to the university to create both the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design and endow the Trottier Institute for Science and Public Policy. Trottier is believed to be the largest donor to the Faculty of Science at McGill. Beginning in 2005 the Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium has been held in the fall of each year, featuring eminent scientists from throughout the world speaking on topics of interest to the public. The first one was held 24 November 2005 and focused on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. In November 2011 Trottier gave $5.5 million to make the Symposium permanent and to fund

Joseph A. Schwarcz Joseph A. Schwarcz (born 1947) is an author and a sessional instructor at McGill University. He is the director of McGill's Office for Science and Society. Early life Schwarcz is an only child, born in Sopron, Hungary to Jewish parents. Durin ...

's McGill's

Office for Science and Society The Office for Science and Society (OSS) is an organization dedicated to science education, operating from Montreal's McGill University. Its staff and contributors use courses, mass media, special events and books to debunk pseudo-scientific m ...

to educate the public about

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

and to "battle against

charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan'' include '' ...

s." It is believed to be the largest single gift for science promotion in Canada. He has also supported

Polytechnique Montréal Polytechnique Montréal () (previously ''École polytechnique de Montréal''; ) is an engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In English it may occasionally be referred to as "Montreal Polytech ...

, Montréal Science Centre,

John Abbott College John Abbott College (French: ''Collège John Abbott)'' is an English-language public college located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, near the western tip of the Island of Montreal. John Abbott College is one of eight English publi ...

, the

Lakeshore General Hospital The Lakeshore General Hospital (Hôpital général du Lakeshore) (LGH) is a district general hospital in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, a suburban municipality near Montreal, Quebec. The hospital employs 1,599 employees and contains 265 beds, and serves a ...

and the West Island Palliative Care Residence with donations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Science Education. From 2010 to 2011 he was also on the board of directors of CFI Canada. The Trottier Observatory at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

, open April 2015, is primarily funded by a $2.7 million gift from The Trottier Family Foundation. On 21 November 2022, the Trottier Family Foundation donated Can$26 million to fund space research at

and the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

. In recognition, the McGill Space Institute was renamed the Trottier Space Institute at McGill University.

Awards

* Réseau Action TI, "Les grands bâtisseurs des TIC du Québec" (2003) * Prix Lionel-Boulet (2003) * Honorary

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

of Science, McGill University (2006) * Member of the Order of Canada (2007), later promoted to Officer (2016). * Honorary Doctorate of Science, École Polytechnique de Montréal (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trottier, Lorne 1948 births Living people Businesspeople from Montreal Canadian electrical engineers McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni Officers of the Order of Canada Anglophone Quebec people Canadian skeptics