K.C. Irving

English: , Kenneth Colin Irving, known to everyone as K.C., spent most of his life in New Brunswick. He was born (March 1899) in Buctouche, Kent County where his father owned various businesses. From his earliest years it was obvious K.C. was a unique person who knew how to accomplish goals. , In 1998 Maclean's Magazine produced a list of the most significant Canadians in the 20th century. K.C. Irving, who had died in 1992 at age 93, was chosen to lead the list. "Canada is famous for its Entrepreneurs. The greatest of them all, Maclean's believes, was the man who built an empire in New Brunswick ...." , After returning from the First World War where at 18 he was in the Royal Flying Corps, K. C. worked for a short time in his father's general store in Buctouche. He had a gift for fixing engines and he enjoyed working with people. His focus was always on new opportunities. By the early 1920s K.C. was operating a profitable gas station and Ford dealership in Buctouche but the small community could not hold him for long. , In 1925 Saint John, the province's major city with a year-‘round port, became K.C.'s home and the base for his expanding operations. The city was where he and his wife Harriet chose to raise their young family. In the early days K.C. was known to leave his dinner to help a customer fix a broken furnace. When travelling, K.C. frequently stopped along the side of a highway to see if he could help a motorist stranded with engine trouble., Irving saw possibilities where others had failed. He had a remarkable ability to fix businesses abandoned by others. Under K.C.'s direction they became profitable. , “Irving clearly shaped the economic destiny of New Brunswick, and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Maritimes," said author J. L. Granatstein who wrote the Maclean's article that named K.C. Irving as Canada's greatest entrepreneur. , During his lifetime K.C. employed thousands of New Brunswickers. He respected those working in his many operations. K.C. was known for stopping to talk to any worker, asking questions and suggesting possible solutions. He told his sons, "We can run a business and employ people, that's what we can do." , K.C. Irving's vision and success has been recognized many times. In a Maclean's 1998 article, The Most Important Canadians in History, J. L. Granatstein said of K.C., "He appeared to grasp instinctively the benefits of vertical integration… It was an astonishing empire that Irving built, eventually encompassing more than 300 companies with interests across the Maritimes and into the northeastern United States." , Irving employees respected and admired the man who, like them, was a New Brunswicker at heart. K.C. Irving died in 1992 at age 93. , It was seven years later that Maclean's selected K.C. Irving as the most outstanding Canadian businessman of the 20th century. ,