Beginning in 1957, Irving's work in
forestry had led to the planting of over a billion trees. Following K. C.'s death in 1992, ownership and responsibility for the Irving companies was divided amongst his sons, James,
Arthur and
Jack. 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. He owned the
Brunswick News publishing company 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. He later served as J.D. Irving's chairman. 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". In 2004, he co-chaired a $25 million fundraising campaign for the
Université de Moncton along with
Denis Losier. By the time of Irving's death,
Forbes estimated his net worth at $5.5 billion, ==Personal life and death==