James K. Irving

James Kenneth Irving Template:Post-nominals (March 20, 1928 – June 21, 2024) was a Canadian billionaire businessman and the first of three sons in the Irving family born to industrialist K.C. Irving. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, he was the owner and later chairman of J. D. Irving. By the time of his death, his net worth was estimated between $5.5 and $7.2 billion.

Early life

James Kenneth Irving was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, on March 20, 1928, the first of three sons born to K. C. Irving<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and his wife, Harriet Lila Irving (Template:Nee), from Galloway in Kent County.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was educated at Rothesay Netherwood School, a private school in the nearby town of Rothesay.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Beginning in 1957, Irving's work in forestry had led to the planting of over a billion trees.<ref name="GlobeandMail-obit">Template:Cite news</ref> Following K. C.'s death in 1992, ownership and responsibility for the Irving companies was divided amongst his sons, James, Arthur and Jack.<ref name="ForbesProfile">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Irving assumed ownership and responsibility of the J. D. Irving conglomerate, which included ownership of several companies in multiple different fields, including logging, frozen foods, transportation and retail.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He owned the Brunswick News publishing company<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> until selling in 2022 to Postmedia, the publisher of major newspapers in New Brunswick, including the Telegraph-Journal, the Times & Transcript and The Daily Gleaner.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He later served as J.D. Irving's chairman.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2000, Irving established the Partners Assisting Local Schools (PALS) program to work with local schools and "give children unique learning opportunities...to break the cycle of poverty for youth living in low-income neighborhoods through academic achievement and the school environment".<ref name="DailyGleaner-1">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2004, he co-chaired a $25 million fundraising campaign for the Université de Moncton along with Denis Losier.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the time of Irving's death, Forbes estimated his net worth at $5.5 billion,<ref name="ForbesProfile"/> while the Bloomberg Billionaires Index guessed $7.2 billion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life and death

Irving was married to philanthropist Jean E. Irving until her death in 2019; they had been married for 69 years.<ref name="globe">Template:Cite news</ref> They had four children, Jim Jr., Robert, Mary Jean and Judy.<ref name="G&M_ElAkkad_20071122">Template:Cite news</ref>

Irving died in Saint John on June 21, 2024, at the age of 96.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the last of K. C. Irving's sons. His younger brother Arthur died a month earlier.<ref name="GlobeandMail-obit"/> Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called him "a symbol of Canadian entrepreneurship and philanthropy".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards

Irving received an honorary doctorate from the Université de Moncton in 1989, for business administration.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In November 2007, he was inducted into the 2008 Canadian Business Hall of Fame along with his two brothers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, Irving received the Order of New Brunswick.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2015, he received the Order of Canada, which described him as a "corporate leader who has advanced economic development in rural and urban New Brunswick".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, Irving and Shirley Dysart were made Rotary International's Paul Harris Fellows for creating PALS.<ref name="DailyGleaner-1"/> In 2017, he won the Honorary Leader Award at the Diversity Champion Awards, organized by Pride of Race, Unity and Dignity through Education, an organization based in Saint John.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>