Kenneth Colin Irving, OC (March 14, 1899 – December 13, 1992) also known as K. C. Irving was one of Canada's foremost entrepreneurs of the 20th century and ranked as one of the world's leading industrialists. Ownership and operation of the Irving group of companies ultimately passed to his three sons, James, Arthur, and Jack, and their respective children.
Born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, as a youngster Irving was viewed as a tough kid from a rough sawmill town on the Northumberland Strait. There are many accounts of his rough and tumble attitude in schoolyard fights. He began his entrepreneurial streak early, but this was tempered by the dawn of the First World War. K.C., along with several friends attempted to enlist but his father put an end to it by enrolling him at Acadia University - an association continues between this institution and the family to this very day. Irving left Acadia before graduation and took a cross-country adventure to British Columbia before returning to Bouctouche. His father did not oppose his second attempt to enlist and Irving entered the Royal Flying Corps as a fighter pilot, although he never saw action as the war ended shortly thereafter. Following the war, he returned home to Bouctouche.
In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
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It was the growth of Irving Oil which largely financed K.C. Irving's other endeavours. Several years after starting Irving Oil, K.C. took over his father's sawmill company in Bouctouche, J.D. Irving Limited, which was subsequently expanded many times. Today JDI is 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, Quebec and Ontario.
As the Irving industrial empire expanded during the Second World War and the post-war era, K.C. Irving purchased shipyards and started various construction, food processing, media, hardware, building supplies, transportation, engineering and construction companies - all of which are vertically integrated, meaning that each Irving company purchases the services of other Irving companies, keeping profits wholly within the conglomerate.
Irving companies are completely privately owned, and therefore all major business decisions are made by the family-members/owners. This has traditionally been a weakness among many family-owned empires. However, the Irvings have proven their ability to react to market situations much more quickly than their publicly traded competitors, a primary reason for their maintaining market share in so many industries throughout northeastern North America. An example can be seen in the fact that Irving Oil undertook significant upgrades and expansions to its refinery in the mid-1990s to produce low-sulphur gasoline, fully a decade ahead of the rest of the North American oil industry. As a result, Irving has been able to capitalize on the growing need for low-emission fuel in California and other U.S. markets (delivered by its own ships).
The conglomerate operates with considerable latitude which the Irving family's wealth permits—operating somewhat as a maverick to the consternation of many of Central and Western Canada's business leaders. Irving Oil, J.D. Irving and all subsidiary companies are actively supporting Canada's ratification and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, since the family has invested considerable funds into environmental controls and alternative energy for its operations and wishes to capitalize on these investments at the expense of its slow-to-respond publicly traded competitors. J.D. Irving's food processing plants in Prince Edward Island are looking to build one of the largest wind farms in Canada in that province to completely power their operations, and many Irving-owned sawmills and factories in the rest of northeastern North America are rapidly adopting co-generation and solar/wind power to complement current energy usage. The Irving family is also hoping to take advantage of deregulation of utility markets in the region by building natural gas-fired electrical generating stations and is currently building a liquified natural gas terminal near its Saint John refinery.
The Irvings have an almost complete monopoly in print media in New Brunswick, owning all English and French daily newspapers but one (L'Acadie Nouvelle) and most English weekly and community papers. In the 1970s, when this concentration was limited to only 4 English daily newspapers, a federal commission of inquiry into media concentration took aim at the Irving family's control. Today print media across Canada has experienced a much higher degree of concentration than existed with Irving in New Brunswick during the 1970s, and the case with Irving was one of the first in the nation. The Irving family ostensibly allows their media holdings to operate relatively independently with the only oversight supposedly being in their finances.
Irving did have a near monopoly in media in New Brunswick well into the 1980s when they owned several English radio stations and CHSJ-TV, the only CBC affiliate in the province. Irving also started MITV (Maritime Independent Television) as a competitor across the Maritimes with the ATV network. The CBC affiliate was sold to the public broadcaster in 1994 at the same time as MITV was sold to Global Television.
Many of the forest management practices at J.D. Irving have come under fire from environmentalists. While JDI has received praise from its lumber retailers and from government regulators, environmentalists point out that the company's tree farming practices have led to an unprecedented industrialization of the forests of northeastern North America, and in turn have led to a decline in tree species variety. Logging roads and erosion problems are also frequently criticized.
The Irving family has long been identified politically with the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Brunswick Liberal Party—a tradition dating to K.C. Irving's father, James Dergavel Irving. The Irvings are extremely private in such matters, however, the ownership of so many industries in eastern Canada gives significant public influence to members of the Irving family. It is estimated that 1 in 10 New Brunswickers are employed by an Irving subsidiary.
K.C. Irving fought many battles with the federal government over income tax, business tax and inheritance tax policies. In 1972, following a particularly tough series of battles, K.C. left Canada suddenly, established himself as a resident of Bermuda, and left his sons in control of the daily operations of the conglomerate, although he remained as majority shareholder. From 1972 until his death, K.C. would visit New Brunswick for "6 months, less a day" each year. K.C. 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. He was re-buried outside of the Scottish-style church on the Irving Manor. Himself, and his wife's grave only marked as " Grammy and Grampy."
K.C. established a succession plan that set up a trust to govern his enterprises for a period of 35 years following his death.[1]
The community Civic Center in Bathurst, NB was named after K.C Irving,its known as the K.C Irving Regional Civic Center and is home to The Acadie Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Many business magazines place the combined book value of the Irving empire at an estimate of approximately $7–9 billion (US), ranking it second in Canada. However, since the conglomerate is privately held and the family is private with respect to financial matters, no information on net worth is available. 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. It is quite likely that the actual net value of the Irving family is much higher than current estimates once offshore holdings and investments are taken into account, placing the family among the world's wealthiest.
The family has long maintained their secrecy while actively supporting many community initiatives. Their philanthropy has long been rumoured in many projects, but the first time it was publicly acknowledged was during the early years of the Université de Moncton, an institution that K.C. came to support in recognition of the support that members of the Acadian community had given to his companies. Since the mid-1980s, the Irving companies have become much more visible in their charitable actions.
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