Stephen A. Jarislowsky, admired Canadian fund manager, dies at 101

Stephen A. Jarislowsky , who founded one of Canada’s largest fund-management firms and took on large corporations on behalf of small shareholders, has died. He was 101.

His family announced his death in a statement calling him “a visionary investor, philanthropist and committed citizen” who “dedicated his life to promoting education, ethics, and excellence across Canada.”

A Harvard-educated Canadian, Jarislowsky led Montreal -based Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd. for almost six decades and helped manage as much as $60 billion (roughly US$51.5 billion at beginning of 2007) in assets before the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. An outspoken advocate for the rights of small shareholders, Jarislowsky supported an unsuccessful effort to create a national securities regulator and fought to trim executive compensation.

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He had an estimated net worth of US$3.9 billion , according to Forbes.

In late 2012, the company announced that Jarislowsky, at 87, would step down as chief executive officer while remaining chairman. “I had to fire my CEO,” he said about himself while trying to explain why client redemptions increased after his departure, Forbes reported at the time. “Some people didn’t like that.”

In 2018, Bank of Nova Scotia acquired Jarislowsky Fraser for about $950 million (about US$739 million at the time). Jarislowsky’s advanced age — he was 92, and still a director — was a factor in the decision to sell, then-chief executive Pierre Lapointe said at the time.

In his later years, he donated millions of dollars annually in the areas of higher education, medicine, science, the arts and the environment through his Jarislowsky Foundation, the Financial Post reported when he turned 100 in 2025.