Stephen J. R. Smith Explained

Stephen J. R. Smith (2 June 1951, Ottawa)^[1] is a Canadian businessman who is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of First National Financial Corporation. As of November 2023, his net worth was estimated as $3.4 billion.^[2]

Biography

Smith graduated with a degree of Electrical Engineering from Queen's University in 1972 and went on to get a Master's of Science in economics from the London School of Economics.

In 1988, he co-founded First National Financial Corporation, the largest non-bank lender of mortgages in Canada. As of 2015, the company had over $90 billion of mortgage loans under administration.^[3]

In 2015, he gave to $50 million to Queen's University at Kingston, after which Queen's business school was renamed to Smith School of Business. On November 2, 2023, he paid $100 million for Queen's engineering department to be renamed to the Stephen J. R. Smith Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Stephen Smith . 30 October 2024 . . 17 July 2019.
2. Web site: Stephen Smith . 2024-01-31 . . en.
3. Web site: Smith, Stephen J R . 2024-01-31 . Queen's University at Kingston.
4. Web site: Taekema . Dan . 2023-11-02 . Queen's receives $100M donation from former student, renames faculty of engineering . 2023-11-02 . .