The JK Irving I knew.

​Writers note: In this edition of my “Against the flow” blog I have chosen a different course, drawing a large part of my column from the book Wires Crossed which I published in 2022. This is an unusual course for me, but I felt it was needed because I had considerable discussions with J.K. Irving when I was writing my book.

While writing Wires Crossed, I interviewed JK Irving several times. I refer to them as interviews, but they were really conservations. We talked about things which reveal much about this man who had a strong social conscience and a strong environmental ethic.

Any obituaries and eulogies of JK, who died last Friday, emphasize his billions and the 17,000+ people who worked in his enterprises. In our talks he did not even mention those achievements, rather, we started talking about his first summer job working in a lumber camp far up New Brunswick’s St. John River. His father, KC Irving wanted to toughen him up by learning about the woods industry from top to bottom. 

It was tough work, and on a lunch break, JK relaxed and went to sleep, missing the call back to work. The crew boss let it be known to JK’s father, KC Irving what had happened. Both KC and the young JK were embarrassed at this state-of-affairs. KC told his son to get back on the job and see the summer through, and that was that. That stick-to-it-ness of the lumber camp experience stuck with JK for the rest of his life.

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Jim, as he liked to be called, but not “Jimmy” was one of Canada’s wealthiest men, but many New Brunswickers will remember him as someone who quietly supported numerous social causes, such as PALS (Partners Assisting Local Schools) which JK founded. It was devoted to breaking the cycle of poverty faced by so many inner-city kids in Saint John. He had a laser focus on providing support for school activities outside of the classroom, including mobilizing any of his employees to take part in the PALS program. Organizers of the program who spoke since JK’s death, say PALS had fantastic impact on increasing participation outside the classroom, reducing absenteeism among inner city students, and even in improving the grades of students in local schools.

Many of the projects JK participated in and contributed money to, such as the Irving Nature Park, the Dunes Boardwalk in Bouctouche, the restoration of the Robbie Burns statue In Fredericton, or the saving of the beautiful shiny dome of the former regional hospital building in Saint John, were either quietly supported or carried the family, Irving, name but were not identified by JK Irving as the donor. 

He credited his wife Jean for other projects such as the family arboretum in Bouctouche, or the Sussex Christian University for which she was a strong advocate. When he and I were talking together, he always referred to his wife, as Mrs. Irving, with what he considered to be a suitable amount of formality and respect.

When I editor of the St. Croix Courier and other residents of Charlotte County were very concerned about “stink hollow”, the Letang Estuary near St. George. When the newspaper, did an entire issue on the dangers of hydrogen sulfide (the smell of rotten eggs) emanating from the estuary, JK did not blame the newspaper for its stories about the situation, nor did he blame the previous owner of the Lake Utopia Mill that had allowed excess would wood fiber to escape down the drain to the estuary. Instead, he set his engineers on the problem, and within a few months they concluded that the mixing of salt water at high tide with the rotting wood fiber was causing the escape of hydrogen sulfide. Very soon there was an improvement in the situation. In my book, I stated: “It was a coup for JK Irving, with his reputation for environmental stewardship, and as well, for the free press.”

In the late 1960’s, when I was working alongside the provincial Minister of the Environment, Vaughan Blaney, we introduced strict enforcement against Irving industry and other large industries in the province. Officers of the Department of Environment spearheaded the laying of charges and convictions in court of several industrial concerns including the Irvings. 

Minister Blaney and I had meetings with JK Irving, some of them heated. He was not happy with our approach and one day after I had expressed the view this new hard line was necessary in view of serious incidents of environmental pollution in the province. He rose from his seat and appeared ready to come over the table to greet me more forcefully. However, he restrained himself. “Well, we’ve got to do the right thing,” and this was the end of his protest. He always ended our more heated exchanges with a comment such as “Well, we’ve got to do the right thing.”  This only increased my respect for him.

Our discussions on serious topics were not all wine and roses from my point of view. Although the Irving newspaper monopoly was the overwhelming reason, I authored my book. He never apologized for the Irving media monopoly. He told me that it was a point of pride for the family that they were able to provide a newspaper in virtually every community in the province. “On the issue of the Newspapers, it was and is, a responsibility--an obligation–to have New Brunswickers tell New Brunswick stories. I am a firm believer in local ownership and support for local reporting.”

JK was loquacious and liked to tell stores. In one of my favourites, he showed his down-to-earth humour and his personal approach to people management. JK described himself as a restless boss and he would often walk at night on the high catwalks of the monstrous Irving Pulp and Paper Mill in Saint John. He related that on such a tour, he saw that one of the giant paper machines was spewing paper loose on the shop floor. Looking down, he saw that the operator who was responsible for the machine was fast asleep. JK said he hollered down to wake up the man, to no effect because of the roar of the machine. JK then resorted to throwing his metal hard hat down beside the man, waking him up….

The union saw an opportunity to score some points and filed a grievance against JK over the hat throwing. When it came time for the grievance to be heard, JK, displaying the Irving tendency to see the advantage of being self-reliant and standing on his/her own two feet, went alone into the meeting room. There were serious-faced union reps at the table. JK was seated opposite the man who had fallen asleep. The union read the terms of the grievance and asked JK what he had to say for himself. He smiled and said: “I missed you! How are you anyway?” The man smiled, they shook hands, everyone laughed, and that was the end of the grievance.
Such was the character and style of the man, JK Irving, who died last week.