About Lorne Trottier

Lorne first discovered his passion for electronics as an eleven-year-old; a new friend’s hobby was building small electronic devices—crystal radios, telegraph communicators, ham radios—and Lorne was captivated by the exciting potential these devices afforded. His self-directed research into electronics opened Lorne’s mind to the fields of science, space exploration, and electronics. He was captivated not only with how radio and television worked, but how the entire universe functioned. By age 13, Lorne knew he wanted to become a scientist.

As a student, Lorne’s initial focus was to be an engineer in the space industry, merging his interest in electronics with his curiosity about space exploration. Instead, Lorne’s early career began in the broadcast industry, working first at Central Dynamics where he undertook a project developing a genlock broadcast sync generator. His second job at the Canadian Marconi Company, where he designed interface cards for minicomputers, the technological precursors of microprocessors. At this point, Lorne met his future business partner; the pair co-founded Matrox, based on the idea that there was a market for electrical components that could interface between microprocessors and video. His early professional experiences provided the technological framework that would go on to underpin much of Matrox’s technology for the next 45 years.

Since its establishment in 2000 by Lorne and his wife Louise, the Trottier Family Foundation has made gifts totaling approximately $180M CAD. Over the years the Foundation has expanded its activities and now has a full-time staff of 5 and a Board consisting of 5 family members. The Foundation has focused on support for the following areas: promote science education and technology literacy, climate change and sustainable development, research in astronomy and astrophysics, health care, and community. The Foundation has made major gifts to McGill University, l’École Polytechnique, Simon Fraser University, the Lakeshore General Hospital, the new Montreal MUHC and CHUM super hospitals, and provides support to hundreds of other charities. For example, in 2019 TFF gave grants to 115 registered charities.

One of the major concerns of Lorne and the Trottier Family Foundation is the area of climate change. This is perhaps the most important challenge facing Canada and the world as a whole in the 21st century. The Foundation has funded a growing number of initiatives in this area including l’Institut de l’Énergie Trottier (IET) at l’École Polytechnique. The IET, along with TISED at McGill are charged with doing education and research as well as public outreach in the areas of sustainable development and clean energy.

The Trottier Foundation also sponsored a major study on pathways for Canada to achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG’s) by 2050. The Trottier Energy Futures Project (TEFP) was conducted in collaboration with the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Released in 2016, the TEFP study was cited extensively in a recent report issued by the Government of Canada entitled Canada’s Mid-Century Long Term Low Greenhouse Gas Development Strategy. This report was released at an international climate change meeting in 2016 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The Trottier Foundation also works on climate issues at the local level, from supporting local charities that helped bring Greta Thunberg to Montreal to collaborating with the City of Montreal to develop the city’s climate action plan for 2050. Very recently, the Trottier Foundation helped establish the Low Carbon Cities Canada initiative with an $183M endowment from the Federal Government aimed at accelerating local carbon solutions in seven Canadian cities, including establishing the Greater Montreal Climate Fund.

The Foundation has also pledged $5M a year for the next ten years, to fund strategic, innovative and catalytic projects with the aim of helping reduce emissions in Canada by half over the next decade. In addition to grantmaking, the foundation’s endowment, as well as personal assets, have been entirely divested from fossil fuels, positive ESG screens are applied, and various impact investments are being pursued.