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Since 1993, Brett Wilson's identity has been tied up in FirstEnergy Capital Corp., the oil patch investment bank he founded with Calgary billionaire Murray Edwards, Jim Davidson and Rick Grafton. But Wilson, 49, has been gradually reducing his role lately, shifting his primary business focus to his own merchant banking operation. He remains chairman of FirstEnergy, however, and he sees this "natural evolution" as typical of today's entrepreneurs as they devote more attention to family, health and philanthropy.

Why the move now?
I turn 50 on July 1, and that might have been the trigger. But it also comes with time and opportunity. The depth of the team at FirstEnergy has never been greater. We have a strategic relationship with Société Générale. It's logical for me to step further back.

Isn't this the second time you've pulled back in a big way?
The first stage came around 2000, when I went through a revolution in my personal life—a divorce and rebuilding relationships with my three children. Then prostate cancer struck me at the age of 43. I shifted roles from president to chairman of FirstEnergy, which is more strategy and tactics around the long-term picture.

Why the need to rebuild family relationships?
It's tough. I don't know anyone who's been able to properly balance a high-growth career, the need for family and often their own health.

Have you moved offices?
My merchant banking operations already dwarf my economic investment in FirstEnergy, but not my emotional one. My new offices are adjacent to FirstEnergy's. It's a matter of where I have my primary desk.

Is your health still an issue?
I hit another speed bump last fall with side effects from radiation. That was pretty difficult, but it got dealt with. The decision to evolve out of my day-to-day role in FirstEnergy was taken last July, and the health issue reinforced it.

How much money do you have to work with?
Enough to get by. I like a model used in some private banking circles: You have three buckets of assets. The first bucket is your lifestyle assets; the second is the assets required to protect that lifestyle; and the third is your adventure assets. I have a significant adventure assets pool. I am looking at acquiring land across Western Canada, investing in the service and the power sectors, and I'm still buying into start-up oil and gas companies.

Where do your children fit in?
When you get hit by the bus in life, you've got two places to send your money—children or charity. I'm not a big fan of this practice of opening the will to determine where Dad's money went. My kids know the vast bulk of my estate will go to charity. The issue for me is giving while living, and the best way to manage that. I'll be doing a lot of philanthropic work using both my leadership skills and my money. And the kids will be fine. None of them can live on the inheritance because, frankly, there isn't one. Both my ex-wife and I hope they will develop passion in their own right.

Five years from now, will you still be involved in FirstEnergy?
I'd be surprised if I wasn't. Both Murray Edwards and I will continue to be strategic advisers and shareholders. I might let go of one-quarter to one-third of a meaningful portion of my equity, and part of that is evolving to some of the junior partners.

Did cancer remind you of your own mortality?
I went through the mortality thought process. One of the early things I did was plan my funeral, which was more about the celebration I hoped would occur. But after a couple of hours, I truly closed the book and said, "Enough of that." It was a very cathartic process to feel that the end is planned. But now it's "let's get on with living, because I have a fair number of new things to get done."