An official obituary isn't out yet, the family is understandably in shock and will hold a private service next week.
I and many others were also shocked and saddened to learn of Neil's passing.
I was told he suffered cranial bleeding from a fall.
On Monday evening, after I learned of Neil's tragic death, was talking to my 91-year-old father who is a retired psychiatrist and told him what happened.
He reminded me of the tragic death of his friend's 33-year-old daughter who slipped in her bathtub and suffered severe hemorrhaging and died instantly.
"Unfortunately, many people die after hitting their head from a fall which is why hospitals perform CT scans if you present at the ER to make sure there is no intracranial hematoma (bleeding)."
Whatever the case, Neil Petroff unexpectedly died and my thoughts and prayers go to his wife and family during this very difficult time.
I didn't know Neil well, only met the man once and spoke to him a few times on the phone, but his death got me thinking about what makes a great CIO at a pension fund.
And let there be no mistake, Neil Petroff was a great CIO, the last of a dying breed along with Bob Bertram who preceded him in that role at OTPP.
Neil was recently at an event honoring Bob and saw many of his former colleagues there.
So, what makes a great CIO?
Well, to answer that question, let me go back many years to the time I met Neil Petroff.
I was with Yves Martin, we drove to Toronto for a day to meet CPPIB and OTPP as Yves was looking to raise money for his commodity hedge fund, Akira Capital (which ended up closing down).
Anyway, Yves and I are waiting at Teachers' reception for our meeting to start and they were running late.
I remember Jim Leech who was then CEO, came in, picked up a piece of paper on the floor to put it in the trash, saw us and I introduced myself and Yves.
Jim asked us who we were waiting for and we said Daniel MacDonald and Jonathan Hausman.
"Well, that's not right, they shouldn't keep you waiting, let me go tell them you're here."
And off he went to tell them we were there.
So, we get in the room, Yves goes over his pitch book, Jonathan Hausman didn't seem particularly interested as he had a flight to catch and warned us he was leaving the meeting early, but Daniel MacDonald who I consider to be the best hedge fund analyst in the industry was there so I didn't mind if Jonathan left.
Right after Jonathan left the room, I emailed Neil Petroff to let him know we were there and I'd love to meet him.
Literally five minutes later, in walks Neil Petroff with a striped golf shirt and a tall cup of Starbucks coffee and starts fiddling the pitch book and listening to Yves and Daniel go at it.
Daniel knows his stuff but so does Yves so the exchange was excellent and Neil seemed aloof until he starts asking one excellent question after another, mostly related to the business model.
On the drive back to Montreal later that afternoon, Yves and I had fun going over the day and I remember telling him how Neil Petroff was cool and nice to walk into the meeting and assist it after Jonathan left, and how he really knew his stuff.
Where am I going with this? Oh yeah, what makes a great CIO and why I considered Neil Petroff a great CIO even though I hardly knew him.
A great CIO is rare, very rare. They know their stuff inside out, can talk to you about public and private markets and a lot more and they're not insecure and arrogant weasels, when they don't know something, they'll tell you.
Unfortunately, the pension industry has its share of weasels, I don't need to point them out because people can spot them from a mile away.
Neil Petroff wasn't one of them, he inspired his colleagues and celebrated their success.
Ron Mock, OTPP's former CEO, owes his career at Teachers' to Neil Petroff and Claude Lamoureux who Neil convinced to hire him in 2001 after his hedge fund blew up.
Ron made some good decisions at the helm and some bad ones, like hiring Graven Larsen to replace Neil after he retired from the organization.
Several high level Teachers' officials told me this proved to be the "worst hire ever" at the organization and it resulted in several high profile departures.
This brings me to my second point, a great CIO isn't just smart, they are great leaders who truly have your back when the going gets rough.
That's why I put Neil Petroff and Bob Bertram in a category of their own.
It's also why I continue to believe AIMCo's former CIO, Dale MacMaster, was a great CIO who really knew his stuff no matter what happened with the whole vol blowup saga during the pandemic.
There are a lot of excellent CIOs in the Canadian pension industry (men and women) but very few of them are at the level of a Bob Bertram or Neil Petroff.
I'm not saying this to put them down, it's simply the truth.
Anyway, it's Thanksgiving weekend in the United States, I felt like honoring Neil Petroff in my little way which is why I chose to write this comment.
Again, my sincere condolences to his wife and family, Neil was way too young to die unexpectedly.
May he rest in peace and let us all remember his wisdom, sense of humor and great character.
I also want to extend my condolences to the family of Geoffrey Briant who died last month here in Montreal.
Geoff was the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development at Cachet Sustainability, a company he helped start along with Leo de Bever, its CEO & CIO.
He had moved to Montreal in the summer from Vancouver and was excited to be back here.
We were supposed to hook up but I wasn't feeling well this summer and never got a chance to see him again.
Apparently, he was complaining of some pain and the doctors told him he had metastatic cancer and only a couple of weeks to live.
Another sad and tragic death, I enjoyed our discussions with Earth Capital's Gordon Power at the bar in Maison Boulud at the Ritz-Carlton hotel here in Montreal.
You can read Geoffrey Briant's obituary here.
May he also rest in peace.
Below, an older (2013) panel discussion featuring OTPP's former CIO, Neil Petroff.
I remember an old discussion with him on active management where he ended by stating:"We can't share all our secrets because the minute we do, everyone is trying to mimic us."
RIP, Neil, you shared plenty with us, thank you!