John Bitove
Encyclopedia
John I. Bitove, (born 1960, in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

) is a Canadian-Macedonian businessman and sportsman. He is the major shareholder and chairman of Scott's Real Estate Investment Trust
Scott's Real Estate Investment Trust
Scott's Real Estate Investment Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust in Canada that owns over 200 retail properties comprising more than in 7 provinces across the country...

 and Sirius XM Canada
Sirius XM Canada
Sirius XM Canada is a Canadian radio broadcasting company, which operates as a Canadian affiliate of Sirius XM Radio. The company received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on April 11, 2011 to merge the formerly distinct XM Radio Canada and Sirius Canada...

. While controlling several public and private businesses, he has recently expanded into telecommunications with a company he leads, Mobilicity
Mobilicity
Mobilicity is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity".-History:...

 (formerly DAVE Wireless). Mobilicity won spectrum in 10 of Canada's 13 largest cities to start a new wireless service for Canadians.

He is the son of John Bitove, Sr.
John Bitove, Sr.
John L.N. Bitove, Sr., CM is a Canadian businessman of Macedonian descent.-Early life:John L.N. Bitove, Sr. was born in Toronto to Macedonian immigrants Nicholas and Vana. His parents immigrated to Canada after World War I in 1919 from Gavros, a village located in the Kastoria Prefecture of...



Bitove was the volunteer president of the City of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. He was the founder of the Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...

 of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 franchise as well as the creator of the new home of sports and entertainment in Toronto the Air Canada Centre
Air Canada Centre
The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.The arena is popularly known as the ACC or the Hangar ....

.

He has also been the volunteer organizer for the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics (track and field) and the 1994 FIBA World Championship of Basketball. In 2005 he received the first James Naismith
James Naismith
The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match; in contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, not a basketball, and instead of shooting at two hoops,...

 Award of Excellence by Canada Basketball.

Bitove earned an undergraduate bachelor of science degree in Business (marketing) from Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...

 in 1983. He is a member of the Beta Eta Chapter of Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...

 fraternity. He also received a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree from the University of Windsor
University of Windsor
The University of Windsor is a public comprehensive and research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has a student population of approximately 15,000 full-time and part-time undergraduate students and over 1000 graduate students...

 in 1984 and was called to the bar and admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada
Law Society of Upper Canada
The Law Society of Upper Canada is responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1797, it is known in French as "Le Barreau du Haut-Canada"...

 (Ontario) in 1986. Since 2007 he has served on the board of trustees of Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...

in North Carolina.
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