Jacqueline desmarais BioGraphy

Paul Desmarais was born on Jan. 4, 1927, in Sudbury, Ont., to prominent lawyer Jean-Noël Desmarais and Lébéa Laforest, the daughter of a well-established family in the Northern Ontario city. He attended his father’s alma mater, the University of Ottawa, where he earned a BA in commerce in 1949.Mr. Desmarais dropped out of law school in 1951 to take over Sudbury Bus Lines, an unprofitable family venture that he purchased for a dollar and turned into a stable operation. This marked the beginning of his illustrious career in business. He married Jacqueline Maranger, whom he met in high school, in 1953. They would have four children: Paul Jr., André, Louise and Sophie. He eventually moved them to the City of Westmount, an exclusive and affluent suburb of Montreal. He and Jacqueline celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in September.

Jacqueline Desmarais

He went on to take over Gatineau Bus Lines, Quebec Autobus and Provincial Transport, the biggest intercity bus operator in Ontario and Quebec. Mr. Desmarais diversified his holdings with the purchase of insurer Imperial Life in 1963, followed by the acquisition of Gelco Enterprises, an electrical utility in Hull, Que. In 1965, he purchased Trans-Canada Corp. Fund, his first conglomerate.Over the past decade, Mr. Desmarais soaked up the accolades befitting an accomplished life. In 2007, he received the University of Ottawa’s Distinguished Canadian Leadership Award. (He holds honorary degrees or distinctions from 13 Canadian universities, according to his Power Corp. biography.) The following year, then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy awarded Mr. Desmarais with France’s highest order of merit, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, something rarely awarded to non-French citizens. Mr. Desmarais was slowed in 2005 by a stroke, and in subsequent years, his attendance at Power Corp. meetings was spotty. Last year, he missed all of the conglomerate’s meetings, the company disclosed in securities documents.Mr. Desmarais had a reputation for befriending the political elite, but those personal connections ran deeper: His family was connected to heads of state through work and marriage. Mr. Desmarais’ son André married the daughter of former prime minister Jean Chrétien, and the couple have four children together. Mr. Desmarais was also close with former prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin, both of whom worked for Power Corp. before entering politics. (Mr. Chrétien also sat on the board of a Power Corp. subsidiary.) A former adviser to Mr. Sarkozy was once married to Mr. Desmarais’ daughter, Sophie. Mr. Sarkozy said in 2008: “If I am the President of France today, it is thanks in part to the advice, the friendship and the loyalty of Paul Desmarais.

Jacqueline Desmarais Husband and Son

World Richest Man:

Jacqueline Desmarais is the widow of Paul Desmarais, Sr. who shares a net worth of $5.4 billion with her family. Along with her four children, Jacqueline Desmarais inherited an immense fortune from her late husband. Ever since his death in October 2013, she has been overseeing Power Corporation, the company that her husband built, along with her two sons Paul, Jr. and Andre who are also trustees of the Desmarais Family Residuary Trust. They serve as co-CEOs of Power Corporation, a diversified international management and holding Canadian company, which includes such holdings as the mutual fund company Putnam Investments, insurance firm Great-Life Westco and a stake in Chinese conglomerate CITIC Pacific. In January 2014, the family decided to sell over 15 million subordinate voting shares in the company. Jacqueline Desmarais currently resides at the family's 75-acre estate Le Domaine Laforest in Quebec.