He took command of the family business and expanded it throughout Eastern Canada and the U.S. Northeast, but left behind a failed succession and an uncertain future for the company
Industrialist Arthur Irving and his wife Sandra check the program at a meeting of New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers in Saint John, N.B., in September, 2019.Joan Carlisle was just 19, a student at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., when she attended a family wedding in Nova Scotia. A brash young man, whom she had never met, approached her father to ask if he could take her to a postwedding party.
Arthur Irving always knew what he wanted and would go after it with a fierce determination – with occasional outbursts of volcanic temper that sent employees scrambling for cover. On Monday, he died of cancer at the age of 93 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he supported cancer research. He was the wealthiest individual in Atlantic Canada – Forbes magazine estimates his net worth at US$6.
It all started in Bouctouche, an Acadian village on New Brunswick’s east shore, where Arthur’s grandfather James Dergavel Irving accumulated a sawmill and other properties. J.D.’s son Kenneth Colin, or K.C., took over the mill but set his horizons far beyond Bouctouche, building a sprawling empire of forestry, retail, media, shipbuilding, real estate and that massive oil refinery in Saint John. K.C.
As a close family friend, Arthur was invited to Wallace McCain’s wedding to Margaret Norrie, who came from a prominent Truro-area family. Margaret’s cousin Joan Carlisle attended, which is how the couple met. The McCain and Irving families would be forever linked, sometimes allies but also bitter rivals when they trespassed in each other’s business territories.
Arthur would personally make sure they were spick and span. Former Irving executive Blaine Higgs says his boss’s idea of a good time was hopping on his motorcycle and doing the rounds of service stations and other facilities, checking that they lived up to the immaculate Irving standards. Arthur’s marriage to Joan Carlisle produced four children, Kenneth, Arthur Jr., Emily and Jennifer, but ended in a bitter and very public divorce in 1980. He married again, to Sandra Ring, and they had a daughter, Sarah.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
CP NewsAlert: New Brunswick oil executive Arthur Irving dies at age 93SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Arthur L. Irving, the second-born son of New Brunswick industrialist K.C. Irving, has died at the age of 93 after a life spent growing the...
Read more »
New Brunswick oil executive Arthur Irving dies at age 93Arthur L. Irving, the second-born son of New Brunswick industrialist K.C. Irving, has died at the age of 93 after a life spent growing the oil business that his father founded.
Read more »
New Brunswick oil executive Arthur Irving dies at age 93SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Arthur L. Irving, the second-born son of New Brunswick industrialist K.C. Irving, has died at the age of 93 after a life spent growing the oil business that his father founded.
Read more »
New Brunswick oil executive Arthur Irving dies at age 93SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Arthur L. Irving, the second-born son of New Brunswick industrialist K.C. Irving, has died at the age of 93 after a life spent growing the oil business that his father founded.
Read more »
Former Irving Oil president Arthur Irving dies at age 93Explore stories from Atlantic Canada.
Read more »
Former Irving Oil president Arthur Irving dies at age 93Explore stories from Atlantic Canada.
Read more »