Rick George, former CEO of Suncor Energy and a pioneer of Canada’s oilsands industry, has died at the age of 67.
The company says he died Tuesday after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia.
George is credited with transforming Suncor from a money-losing operation into one of Canada’s largest corporations over a 21-year career before his retirement in 2012.
In 1991, he joined the company that would later become Suncor, spearheading sweeping technological changes as scrutiny of the oilsands and its environmental record intensified.
He oversaw Suncor’s $19-billion merger with Petro-Canada in 2009, creating a company with refineries, retail outlets, offshore and conventional oil and gas assets throughout the country.
He was appointed an officer of the order of Canada in 2007.
