Irving, Kenneth Colin

Kenneth Colin Irving, (born March 14, 1899, Buchtouche, N.B., Can.—died Dec. 13, 1992, St. John, N.B.), Canadian industrialist whose vast business empire dominated the province of New Brunswick, where he employed 1 out of every 12 workers.

Irving was born in a small fishing village in New Brunswick, and, after attending college and serving in the Royal Flying Corps, he returned there to sell Model T Ford cars and gasoline (petrol). After his gasoline station franchise was revoked, he founded the Irving Oil Co. in the mid-1920s, starting with a used tank and a few trucks.

Irving bought bus lines to use the oil, tankers to transport the oil, and shipyards to build the tankers. Further diversification took him into the pulp and paper business, and his holdings included 3.4 million acres (1.4 million hectares) of New Brunswick timberland, more than 25 percent of the timber in the province. He owned the province’s four English-language newspapers and two of its three English-language television stations. He was one of Canada’s richest persons, and, although the exact worth of his some 300 companies was unknown, in 1990 Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $5 billion. Irving technically retired to Bermuda in 1972 after handing over the conglomerate’s day-to-day control to his three sons, but he maintained ultimate authority.