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Carleton mourns loss of John Reid

Published on July 2, 2019

Carleton is mourning the loss of a prominent member of the university community, technology leader and alumnus John Reid, who was the president and CEO of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA).

Portrait of John Reid
John Reid

Reid had strong connections to Carleton’s Institute for Data Science and Sprott School of Business, which hosted CATA’s annual awards gala for the past five years. Celebrated in the Ottawa Business Journal as the city’s “most tireless advocate for the tech industry” and remembered for his “unflagging belief in the potential of this country’s entrepreneurs,” Reid earned a master’s degree in International Affairs from Carleton in 1978. He passed away on June 24 at the age of 69 while in Norway on vacation with his wife.

“John Reid’s untimely death is a major loss to the technology community across the country and to Carleton,” said emeritus professor John ApSimon, a special advisor to the deans of Science and Engineering. “He has been the energetic and effective leader of the technology advocacy group CATA for what seems like forever. We have lost a wonderful graduate who was an advocate for advanced technology in all its forms.”

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