Everybody enjoys a Horatio Alger story and Canadians are no exception. The people of New Brunswick have their own glorious success story in the person of Kenneth Colin Irving, the boy from Buctouche, who became one of Canada's leading industrialists. If one casts a look across the provinces of Eastern Canada, evidence of his achievements is everywhere.

The Irving family's connection to New Brunswick dates back to George Irving who emigrated from Scotland in 1822. K.C. Irving is the greatgrandson of this man, who braved the Atlantic for unknown fortunes in the colonies. Certainly part of the great-grandson's legacy from George Irving is his foresight and determination.

Born on March 14,1899 in the small community of Buctouche on the Northumberland Strait, K.C. Irving got a taste of the world outside New Brunswick at a young age, serving in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. After the War he returned to Buctouche to work in his father's general store.

His father J.D. Irving was himself well-established in the business community. When he was 21 years old, J.D. Irving moved to Buctouche from an area now known as Beersville, Kent County, where the first Irving to come to Canada had built a home and cleared a 200 acre farm. J.D. Irving opened a sawmill in this new locale and later expanded his interests to include a general store, a grist-mill, a sheep's wool carding mill, and the marketing of fish and farm products.

The Irving family automobile became an important learning instrument as K.C. Irving spent countless hours taking it apart and putting it back together. He became a highly reputable local mechanic and by the age of 25 had opened his own garage and service station on Main Street, the first one in town. He was already the local Ford dealer

It had made good sense to a man selling cars to start up a station to fuel and service the cars. Carry such sound business logic one step farther and you find yourself in the oil industry. In July 1924 K.C. Irving began importing gasoline and lubricating oil from the United States. It would be safe to say an industrial empire had been founded. 

One of Thousands of Irving Stations Located in Eastern North America.	The Irving Canada is a part of Canada's largest fleet of Canadian registered ships.

With the later acquisition of the Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, K.C. Irving was building his own tankers to transport oil. The company, one of Canada's most active, also assembled vessels for other customers, including Exxon and Shell. Finally, in 1960, a dream came true with the completion of an oil refinery right in Saint John. Today as prime contractor of the Canadian Patrol Frigate Program, Saint John Shipbuilding has become Canada's leading shipyard.

If there is one industry that has had a special place in the heart of K.C. Irving, it is the forest industry. Over the years his company acquired large timber holdings in North America and he himself mounted the first New Brunswick reforestation program. In 1978, with millions of trees already planted, K.C. Irving saw the first cord of pulpwood harvested from thinnings.

In choosing Eastern Canada as the location for his many business interests, K.C. Irving has helped to create thousands of jobs and opportunities in areas where there has traditionally been high unemployment.

The Irving organization of today can boast Canada's largest oil refinery, the western hemisphere's first deep-water terminal, a modern shipyard, large forest production operations, pulp and paper mills, bus and transport companies, newspaper and broadcasting companies and, of course, thousands of Irving service stations throughout eastern Canada.

K.C. Irving's entrepreneurial leadership and accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. In 1979 he was nationally recognized as one of the first laureates to be inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. Criteria for this award involved significant contribution to the advancement and prosperity of this country.

In accepting this laurel, K.C. Irving was quick to share the credit. "Anything I have achieved," he said, "is due not particularly to my own efforts but to those of the fine men and women whom my sons and I have gathered around us. With them I share the great honour you have done me."

All company operations are now in the competent hands of K.C. Irving's three sons, James K. Irving, Arthur L. Irving and John E. Irving, and their headquarters is still located in Saint John.

Throughout the development of his enterprises, K.C. Irving confounded supporters and detractors alike by focusing his efforts on New Brunswick. There were occasions, as with the building of the oil refinery, when another location would have offered more favourable conditions. But, as K.C. Irving said in explanation of his choice, "My home is in New Brunswick." And so Saint John remains today the corporate head office of a large number of Irving companies. Born in New Brunswick, Irving Companies make up a Canadian conglomerate in which all of Canada can take pride. 

The Irving Refinery located in Saint John, N.B. is Canada's largest.	This Irving pulp mill located in Saint John is one of Canada's most modern.