Kenneth Colin Irving, (14 March 1899 – 13 December 1992) was a Canadian businessman whose business began with a family sawmill in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, in 1882. to local businessman James Dergavel Irving (colloquially known by his initials "J.D."), and Mary Elizabeth Irving (), both descendants of Scottish immigrants. In his early years, K. C. Irving was viewed as a tough kid from a rough sawmill town on the Northumberland Strait. He began his entrepreneurial streak early, but this was tempered by the dawn of World War I. working as a Ford automobile salesman for a dealer in Richibucto at the age of 22. Within two years, the sales territory of southern Kent County was his. In 1924, he opened a petrol (gasoline) station under the Imperial Oil logo. He would eventually transform what became known as Irving Oil
At the age of 26, Irving was invited by the representative of Ford to take over the franchise in Saint John, the city he would make his home for the next 46 years. Early on, he switched his business to the Bank of Nova Scotia as the result of a fortuitous visit which acquainted him with the future president of the bank, Horace L. Enman. In 1926, he was awarded a Ford franchise in Halifax, and the concession for Ford tractors in the whole of the Maritimes. In 1929, he formed K. C. Irving Gas and Oil Ltd, in order to distribute the Noble supply. Haymarket Square Service Stations was formed in the late 1920s as a partnership with two others, one of whom he bought out after the first year. By 1930, Irving was selling petrol in Saint John, Bouctouche, Shediac, Moncton, Sussex, Campbellton, St. Stephen, Westville, Weymouth, Amherst and Truro. Also by 1930, his petrol business expanded into Prince Edward Island and Quebec's Magdalen Islands. In 1930, he sold 8,000,000 gallons, when one of his average service stations sold 70,000 gallons; that year, he employed 212 people in Saint John and 482 elsewhere. Irving saw that the petrol business was also an opportunity to purchase land,
By 1939, Irving had developed an ulcer, and tipped the scales at 215 pounds; the Lahey Clinic in Boston would in 1941 cure the ulcer.
WW2
Irving obtained the contract from Ottawa or London to build wooden landing barges for D-Day in Bouctouche. He set up the production facilities near the familial grist mill, and built bunkhouses on the family farm for the scores of workers.
Offshore holdings
Irving fought many battles with the federal government over income tax, business tax and inheritance tax policies. On 23 December 1971, following a particularly tough series of battles, he left Canada, ostensibly because of the estate tax situation: the Federal government planned to abolish estate taxes while the government of Premier Richard Hatfield (along with the other Maritime governments) planned to introduce an estate tax in its place.
Although he remained as majority shareholder, his sons controlled the daily operations of the conglomerate. From 1972 until his death, Irving would visit New Brunswick for "6 months, less a day" each year. In 2018, Forbes magazine estimated that the Irvings' net worth was $US12 billion.
Later life and death
Irving died at home in Saint John and was buried alongside his first wife in Bermuda. Later, his body was exhumed, along with his wife's. They were re-buried outside the Scottish-style church on the Irving Manor in Bouctouche. Their graves were only marked as "Grammy and Grampy".
Legacy
In 1927, Irving married Harriet McNairn (1899–1976), a boyhood sweetheart, and the following year his first son was born. He was the father of, in 1928 James Kenneth, in 1930 Arthur Lee, and in 1932 John Ernest; the family attended St John's and St Stephen's Presbyterian Church. Irving would, after his sons all had graduated, provide for a new building at Rothesay Collegiate School.
Ownership and operation of the Irving group of companies ultimately divided among his three sons and their respective children, James, the oldest brother and his (James') two sons, Jim and Robert, took more control of forest products and several other divisions, Arthur the middle brother assumed more autonomy in Irving Oil, || 1935? || || SMT (Eastern) Ltd
|-
| Scotia Motor Transport || 1935? || || SMT (Eastern) Ltd
|-
| Island Motor Transport || 1935? || ||
|-
| Steel and Engine Products || || 2004 || Liverpool, NS
|-
| Ocean Steel Construction Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Strescon Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Thorne's Hardware || 1942 || ||
|-
| Chinic Hardware || || ||
|-
| Lewis Brothers || || || Montreal, hardware
|-
| Universal Sales Ltd. || 1925? || || Ford dealership, bus bodies
|-
| New Brunswick Publishing Co. Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Moncton Publishing Co. Ltd. || || ||
|-
| New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Ltd. || || ||
|-
| University Press of New Brunswick Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Harbor Development Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Saint John Drydock Co. Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Irving Chandler Sales || || ||
|-
| Kent Line || || || shipping (oil tankers)
|-
| Atlantic Towing Ltd. || || || tugboats
|-
| Canaport || || ||
|-
| Road and Sea Transport || || || trucking (oil)
|-
| Port Royal Pulp and Paper Co. || 1946 || ||
|-
| Saint John Sulphite Co. Ltd. || || ||
|-
| Midland Trucking || || ||
|}
Criticism
J.D. Irving Limited
It was the growth of Irving Oil which largely financed K. C. Irving's other endeavours. Several years after starting Irving Oil, Irving took over his father's sawmill company in Bouctouche, J.D. Irving Limited, which was subsequently expanded many times. JDI was in the 1970s the largest single landowner in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine. JDI has also been identified as being one of the four largest private land-owners in the United States. These forest lands feed several pulp and paper plants and sawmills which in turn feed the company's paper, tissue, and diaper factories throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, New York, Georgia, Quebec and Ontario.
However, since the conglomerate is privately held and the family is private with respect to financial matters, no information on net worth is available. Most observers have only the tangible values of real property and industrial assets upon which to base their estimates without any ability to assess the value of cash reserves or outstanding debt and obligations. Despite Forbes's estimates, the overall Irving family fortune is likely to be grossly underestimated because of complex tax avoiding schemes which blur evidence behind a network of number companies and international holdings. In 1981, the National Film Board movie "I Like to See Wheels Turn" mentioned Canadian Lawyer Peter Glennie's findings. Glennie had compiled company registrations and the rare public documents on the Irving wealth. His estimations on the Irving family wealth were 7 billion in 1981 Canadian dollars (worth 22 billion in 2019 inflation-adjusted Canadian dollars).
Political views
Irving was previously a supporter of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, then-led by Louis Robichaud. Irving had long been challenged by critics for "the tax concessions he and other industrialists have extracted from the province over the years" as well as Irving industrial plant-caused pollution. Irving began supporting the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick after Robichaud pushed back against tax concessions.
Notes
References
See also
- Irving Group of Companies