Simon Fraser's business school will be getting a new name after local industrial developers Ryan and Keith Beedie donated $22 million to the school this week.
The Beedie School of Business will use the gift to create an endowment supporting students, professorships and research chairs. It is the largest cash contribution that SFU has ever received.
"What's great about our donation is that it's an investment in the future," said Ryan Beedie, who earned his BBA at the university before joining the family's industrial development business. "The endowment will be there for generations to come, to give students the SFU education that I was fortunate to have had and to enable the university to attract the best teachers and researchers.
Daniel Shapiro, dean of the newly named Beedie School of Business, says that the gift will help make the school a global thought leader in areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship, Asia Pacific business studies, risk management and sustainability.
"The students who graduate from SFU's Beedie School of Business will go on to lead existing Canadian businesses and to create exciting new ones. This gift is really an investment in the economic future of British Columbia and Canada."
The Beedie Group is the largest landlord of industrial space in British Columbia. Recently the company has expanded its commercial presence in southern Alberta, residential homes and other ventures.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
