Ian Greenberg

Greenberg was born in Montreal[2] on 15 June 1942.[3] He was one of ten children of Annie and Abraham Greenberg, who worked as a municipal bailiff.[4] Greenberg grew up in a humble household, and his mother died in 1961 when he was nineteen.[4][5] He graduated from Harvard Business School's six-week Advanced Management program.[4]

In 1961, Greenberg, along with his brothers Harold, Sidney and Harvey, co-founded what would eventually become Astral Media Inc. They took out a C$15,000 loan from the future father-in-law of Sidney and named their business Angreen Photo Inc., in honour of their late mother.[4][5] It was initially focused on photographic processing – drawing on the previous work experience of two of his older brothers[4] – and was based inside Miracle Mart department stores.[5][6] The brothers secured exclusive rights to sell photo merchandise at Expo 67 held in their hometown.[4]

They eventually made their business, since renamed to Astral Communications, a public company in 1974.[5] It took over the Pathé-Humphries motion picture lab that same year, and went on to be known as AstralTech.[6] The company expanded into other business areas, such as the production and distribution of films and television shows.[2][5] Although its early productions were mediocre, the sex comedy Porky's (1982) became the highest-grossing Canadian movie at the North American box office for two decades until My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002.[5]

The success of Porky's enabled Astral to have more room to manoeuvre financially,[2] and the Greenberg brothers quickly divested from film production in favour of pay television.[5][6] After Harold's death in 1996, Greenberg assumed control of the company as president and chief executive officer. He gradually transformed the company, which had begun as a photographic specialty business, into a pure-play media company (in the 1990s), focused on television, radio, out-of-home advertising and digital media properties.[5][6] The business was again rebranded in February 2000 as Astral Media.[6]

Before its sale in 2013, Astral Media had over 2,800 employees in fifty cities across Canada.[7] Under Greenberg's direction, Astral Media had grown to operate 84 radio stations,[8] 24 pay and specialty television channels,[9] and over 9,500 out-of-home advertising faces.[10] The company also operated over 100 websites.[11]

On March 16, 2012, Astral Media announced it had signed an agreement to sell the company to BCE, Inc (Bell Canada). The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) initially denied BCE's bid to acquire Astral seven months later, but ultimately approved a re-tooled bid in 2013.[12]

Greenberg and his brothers were awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award for their exceptional contributions to philanthropic endeavours in 1993.[13] He was a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and a governor of the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.[13] He was also a member of the board of directors of Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and Cineplex Entertainment.[14]

Greenberg resided in Montreal with his wife Linda. They had three children and nine grandchildren. He died on 10 January 2022, at the age of 79.[5][13]

• 1993: Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award, co-awarded with his brothers[13][14]
• 2007: Ted Rogers and Velma Rogers Graham Award[13][14]
• 2008: Inducted in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame[15]
• 2013: Inducted in the Canadian Business Hall of Fame[16]
• 2013: Academy Special Award, for exceptional achievement in Canadian film and TV[17]
• May 8, 2014: Inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame[16]