Andrew Sarlos

Andrew Sarlos

Doctor of Civil Law

Andrew Sarols is a financier and Bay Street power broker. He was born in Budapest, Hungary, and was imprisoned for his liberal views while studying economics at the University of Budapest. He was part of the Petofi Circle, which became the vanguard of Hungary’s anti-Soviet revolution in 1956, and escaped to Austria and eventually to Canada.

After qualifying as a chartered accountant and becoming a Canadian citizen, he spent seventeen years in administrative positions with the Canadian Bechtel and Acres Limited, eventually heading their merchant banking group. He went on his own in 1974, and has since become one of the Toronto financial community’s most sought-after investment counsellors.

He is a pioneer in building bridges to the newly liberalized regime in Hungary as co-sponsor of an investment fund that has raised 80 million U.S. dollars to support capitalist ventures in Hungary. Sarlos has also helped fund a new business school in Budapest and is planning direct investments in Hungarian industry, including a newspaper and department store.

Sarlos is a contributing editor of Money Letter, has served as a Governor of the University of Waterloo, and is on the board of Toronto’s Central Hospital, the Toronto General and Western Foundation and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.