Meet Heidi Balsillie, the woman behind the successful businessman Jim Balsille. Are they still together? How long have they been married? Do they have any kids?
Born as James Laurence Balsillie on February 3, 1961, Jim Balsillie is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.
In 1984, Balsillie received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Trinity College at the University of Toronto. Similarly, he got his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989.
The business giant started his career as an executive vice president and chief financial officer of technology at Sutherland-Schultz, a design and construction services company.
In 1992, Balsillie invested $125,000 in Research in Motion (RIM) and joined as the co-CEO with the founder Mike Lazaridis.
With fewer than ten employees when it started, RIM became the “international powerhouse” called BlackBerry Limited and has about 18,000 employees now.
Besides his business endeavors, Balsillie is widely known as a philanthropist and supports local and national innovations.
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Who Is Jim Balsillie Wife Heidi Balsillie?
Heidi Balsillie is the daughter of Reinhold and Gertrud Henschel. Her parents emigrated from Germany in the 1950s.
Heidi has lived in Kitchener-Waterloo for most of her life. She dated the Hamilton-Wentworth regional government chair, Terry Cooke in high school.
In 1982, she graduated from Western University majoring in sociology. Heidi is humble and doesn’t like talking about herself at all.
Heidi started a charitable foundation in Hamilton. Having the same surname as the business giant cannot keep her from the spotlight.
She believes in doing rather than showing. Heidi is too humble and doesn’t like the titles and honors that come from doing good.
Even the title “philanthropist,” which she rightfully deserves, sounds too grand to her. Heidi and Jim have contributed to a lot of charitable giving.
Jim Balsillie And Heidi Balsillie Relationship Timeline
When Heidi worked at Chedoke Hospital after graduating in 1982, a co-worker set her up on a date with his brother, Jim Balsillie.
That is how the couple met. Heidi supported Jim through it all; she moved to Boston with him so he could realize his dream of studying at Harvard.
The duo was poor when they moved to Boston, but they sponsored two foster children at Christmas.
One thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, they returned from the USA and tied the knot at St. John’s Lutheran Church. Heidi was 29, and Jim was 28.
The couple is very private about their life and refuses to discuss it. Unfortunately, in 2011, the pair separated. Heidi started devoting her life entirely to charity then.
Heidi kept her husband’s last name, so they probably ended things on good terms. As far as we know, they are both single now.
Jim Balsillie Kids
Jim Balsillie has two kids. Jim was blessed with two adorable children with his ex-wife, Heidi, before separating in 2011.
James and Rachael Balsillie are the two lives Jim and Heidi created. Heidi stayed home to take care of them, sent them to school, brought them lunch, and she loved every bit of it.
According to The Spec, Rachael lived in Vancouver, and James had just finished his Paris internship in 2016.
Heidi’s mother passed away when she was 48. She regretted that her children “didn’t truly experience my mom as a grandmother.”
After the divorce, when the kids were all grown up, Heidi finally had time for herself. That is when she decided to give back to the world.
The children are probably well-established; they might even have their own families now.
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