One of the pioneers of Ottawa's explosive success in technology has died. Former Cognos CEO Ron Zambonini passed away Sunday night.
Zambonini was a colourful, visionary leader who made Cognos a global leader in the growing software area of business intelligence.
He retired in 2004. Cognos was sold three years later to IBM for $4.9 billion.
Zambonini was a passionate leader, beloved by his employees. He famously appeared at annual meetings as characters such as Braveheart and Zorro.
According to his family on Facebook, Zambonini was diagnosed with lung cancer last year and it recently returned. He was 70.