Mike Unger

Back in the 1990s, Nortel was a terrific place to work, and many of those in the lead were solid, good guys. Mike Unger was one of them, and his death early this week seems like the end to that era. As head of the Optical division at Nortel, Mike came close to having his own big dot-com payday, until the dot-com bust made the planned spinout of the business impossible. Still, Mike remained a loyal contributor to the start-up community, available as a board member, advisor, or back room mentor to many. Here's hoping someone in Ottawa steps up to fill his shoes.