B.C. businessman and philanthropist Ryan Beedie is set to be inducted into two prestigious business halls of fame next spring: one provincial and one federal.
Beedie, who owns the real estate development company known as Beedie, is set to be inducted into the Business Laureates of B.C. Hall of Fame on May 5, alongside his late father, and the company's founder, Keith Beedie.
A few weeks later, on May 22, 56-year-old Ryan Beedie is set to be one of four new entrants to the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
The other entrants to the Canadian Business Hall of Fame include:
- Jacynthe Côté, chairwoman at the Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY);
- Pierre Lassonde, chairman emeritus at Franco-Nevada Corp. (TSX:FNV); and
- Larry Tanenbaum, chair and CEO at Kilmer Group of Companies.
"I think it is the most significant business award in the country," Beedie told BIV of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame, which is operated by Junior Achievement Canada and was founded in 1979.
The B.C. honour is also appreciated, Beedie said, adding that it has a special significance for him given that he will be inducted with his late father, who died at 91 years old in September 2017.
"It's so awesome to be honoured with my dad because he never really got the recognition that he fully deserved," Beedie said.
"He wasn't part of the downtown establishment. He was on his own in Burnaby, and he marched to his own drummer. The company meant so much to him so I think it's really awesome that we'll get to pay tribute to him."
Beedie said he has no retirement plans because he loves his work and he wants to expand his company and see many projects through to completion. That would follow his father's example, as Keith Beedie worked at the company's Burnaby office until a few months before he died.
In recent years, Beedie has expanded deeper into Ontario, and it has a Toronto office.
"We're in Las Vegas, and we're going to be expanding into the US over the next few years," Beedie said.
Industrial real estate development remains the company's main revenue stream. One huge sale that Beedie said closed in 2023, although it was not reported until January 2024, was the company selling a nearly one-million-square-foot industrial building in Burnaby. Amazon is leasing the site, which sold to billionaire Amancio Ortega for 250 Euros, which would be worth about $374 million. Ortega is known for founding the Inditex fashion group that is best known for owning the Zara chain.
Beedie's Beedie Living division builds residential properties and one of its biggest Metro Vancouver projects is Fraser Mills in Coquitlam, where it plans to build 5,500 homes in the next 15 years or so.
The company's Beedie Capital has a platform that manages the alternative investments.
He said the company is the largest shareholder in Artemis Gold Inc. (CSE:ARTG) and that he is excited about that company developing the Blackwater Mine, which is about 160 kilometres southwest of Prince George.
Another of Beedie's passions is philanthropy.
He and his wife Cindy have committed about $140 million to more than 250 charities across B.C. in the past 15 years or so, he said.
That includes a planned $50-million investment in his Beedie Luminaries program, which he announced on his 50th birthday, in 2018. The initiative saw him set up a registered foundation and non-profit society aimed at removing barriers to higher education for students who face financial adversity, and to support their long-term success. So far, there are more than 800 recipients of money, he said on Dec. 13.
He is also known for holding benefit concerts. He held a concert in Stanley Park in August 2023 that raised $2 million for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Bryan Adams and Blondie were headliners. A similar concert is tentativiely planned for August 2025, although details are yet to come.
Back in 2011, Beedie and his father donated $22 million to Simon Fraser University to create the Beedie School of Business.
Much of Beedie's philanthropy tends to be focused on healthcare and education, and it tends to be in areas where his company has done business.
He and his wife Cindy Beedie in October 2023 announced a $5 million donation to the Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation to help build a long-term care facility, Beedie told BIV.
“We’ve done a lot of work in Delta over the last 30 years,” he said. “We have an obligation to invest money back into that community, which has been very good for us.”
