Edward Rogers doesn’t want Larry Tanenbaum to be paid for executing his mother’s will
Tanenbaum and his co-trustees have charged $11 million
Edward Rogers is officially objecting to $11 million in compensation claimed by Larry Tanenbaum and two other executors of his mother’s estate.
Loretta Rogers co-founded Rogers Communications with her husband, Ted Rogers, who died in 2008. When Loretta passed away in 2022, she left behind a $250-million estate that included more than $50 million in real estate properties and $1.6 million in artwork and jewellery.
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Tanenbaum is a co-trustee of that estate, and is linked to the Rogers family through Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, of which he owns a 25 per cent stake through his company, Kilmer Sports. Rogers Communications, however, has been cleared to acquire that stake this coming July.
The other trustees are Mary Filippelli, a former Deloitte partner, and Jim Reid, the former head of human resources at Rogers Communications. From 2022 to 2024, the three executors spent 2,650 hours administering the will, and have billed some $11 million for their trouble, reports Irene Galea in the Globe and Mail. By law, estate trustees are entitled to compensation for their work, and a judge can then order those costs to be paid out of the estate.
Rogers, however, says the trustees overcharged. About $10 million of what they’re asking for came from a 2.5 per cent fee charged on any money entering or leaving the estate. This is held as a standard rate for such work in Ontario, but lawyers for Rogers claim it amounts to “grossly excessive compensation” in cases of very large estates, the Globe reports. Rogers also objected to the $1.1 million in care and management fees the trustees charged for maintaining the estate’s value.
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In his filings, Rogers objected to Tanenbaum getting any compensation at all, claiming Tanenbaum had “delegated” his role to his fellow trustees. According to the Globe report, filings indicate that Tanenbaum’s share of the work on the estate came to just five per cent of the total.
When reached by the Globe, representatives for Rogers, Tanenbaum, Rogers Communications and Kilmer Sports all declined to comment, and lawyers for all parties did not respond.
Rogers also took issue with the trustees’ purchase of $14.5 million in executive liability insurance. This, too, was permitted by the will, but Rogers’s filings contend that any risk was already offset by its other provisions. Notably, Loretta included a provision protecting the trustees from any losses or liability resulting from legal action taken against them—including proceedings “by or for the benefit of Edward Rogers.”
Anthony Milton is a freelance journalist based in Toronto specializing in long-form magazine writing. He previously worked as an assistant editor at Toronto Life, where he launched the Front Row newsletter. He regularly contributes all sorts of stories to the magazine, including deep dives on sports, business and housing as well as short-form commentary on our ever-changing city, from its obsession with cherry blossoms to its maddening NIMBYism. His work has also appeared in Maclean’s, Ricochet, TVO, the Trillium and more.
