Isadore Sharp - Biography

Isadore "Issy" Sharp, OC (born October 8, 1931) is a Canadian businessman and founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

In 1952, he graduated from Ryerson University with a diploma (only diplomas were offered at the time) in Architectural Technology. He founded the Four Seasons Hotel in 1960 and opened the first hotel on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto in 1961.

He helped start and is director of the Terry Fox Run.

He married Rosalie Wise and they have three sons, Jordan, Gregory and Anthony. They lost a fourth son, Christopher, to melanoma cancer in 1978. A Ty Beanie Baby named Issy was produced in 2001 in Christopher's memory. All proceeds from American sales went to Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York, while all Canadian proceeds went to the Terry Fox Foundation.

On November 6, 2006, Bill Gates, through his holding company Cascade Investments LLC, and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal made an offer to take Four Seasons Hotels private (buyout) for US$3.4 billion (excluding debt). Sharp would remain chairman and chief executive of the company. He also would be able to realize proceeds from a 1989 incentive plan that would pay him $288 million. The company's headquarters would remain in Toronto.

Sharp had a net worth of $540 million CDN in 2009.

He and his wife Rosalie are prominent Canadian philanthropists, having made significant donations to many sources including the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the Ontario College of Art and Design, Mount Sinai Hospital, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In 2009, Sharp summarized his experience and business philosophy in a book Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy, published by Viking Canada.

Honours

• In 2003 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commerce degree from Ryerson University.
• In 1999 He was awarded the International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award (IDEA) from the University of Manitoba.
• In 1998 he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
• In 1994 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Toronto.
• In 1992 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
• In 1992 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Guelph.
• In 1983 he was Ruth Hartman Frankel Humanitarian Award for his support of Terry Fox and the subsequent Terry Fox Run.