Robert Herjavec

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SOURCE OF WEALTH: Herjavec Group

FUNDING AREAS: Health, housing and homelessness

OVERVIEW: Herjavec tends to be pretty quiet about his finances; not much is known about his philanthropy either. Herjavec has, however, played in several charity golf tournaments, hosted two fundraisers for the the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation anddonates to several other cancer research organizations. He is currently the CEO of the Herjavec Group, and an investor in small businesses through the hit TV show Shark Tank.

BACKGROUND: Herjavec emigrated from Croatia to Canada with his parents when he was 8 years old, arriving with nothing more than a single suitcase and $20. He attended the University of Toronto, majoring in English literature and political science, and had a brief career as a film producer and director before getting into the tech business. He sold IBM mainframe emulations boards at Logiquest but was under-qualified for the position. He eventually moved up the ranks to become general manager. Herjavec left Logiquest in 1990 to found BRAK Systems, a Canadian integrator of Internet security software, which he sold to AT&T Canada in 2000. After a three-year retirement during which he was a stay-at-home dad, he founded the Herjavec Group in 2003, which provides integrated security services and systems.

ISSUES:

HEALTH: Herjavec has supported several charities dedicated to funding cancer research and other health-related causes. In addition to the balls he threw for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, he donated between $50,000-$100,000 to the Hamilton Health Sciences Group in 2012.

HOMELESSNESS: It was reported that in 2014, Herjavec, in a suicidal state after his marriage of 25 years fell apart, sought help from his pastor, John McAuley. McAuley steered him to Seattle's Union Gospel Mission, a homeless shelter that provides care and recovery services for those struggling with addiction. Herjavec spent some time volunteering in the soup kitchen there and reportedly bought and distributed 100,000 pairs of socks to the homeless. Later that year, Herjavec wrote about his experience, encouraging others to support initiatives like these.

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