Whether they are worth $200 million or $2 billion, they all share one thing: They would rather we weren't talking about them.
But curiosity got the better of us. How did these individuals amass so much wealth while drawing so little attention? Who hired a PR manager just to keep his name out of the paper? Which real estate scion had a taste for Ferrari Testarossas? Who had his identity stolen and who plans to have his body cryogenically frozen? Inside, everything you need to know—at least everything we could dig up—about the most reclusive figures in Canadian business
Joseph Burnett
Burnac Corp.
»Lives Toronto »Worth $1.08 billion
It's easy to understand why Joseph Burnett prefers to keep a low profile. His nine-year court battle on tax evasion charges was one of the lengthiest and costliest in Canadian history. By the time he was cleared of all charges in 1991, the press had lovingly detailed his taste in fast cars (a $350,000 Ferrari Testarossa) and faster jets (his Learjet); big boats (a 50-foot cruiser anchored in Florida) and bigger homes (a 17,000-square-foot home near Toronto's Bridle Path). For the lawyer-turned-tycoon, the attention was just too much. Burnett and his brother, Ted, went quiet in the 1990s, only popping up from time to time with a million-dollar charity donation. Burnac, the family's private holding company, got rolling in the 1940s when Joseph and Ted's father invested $300 in a pickup truck to run fruit and veggies from Toronto wholesalers to Sudbury's miners. That business morphed into a grocery chain—Super Carnaval—that was sold to Métro-Richelieu. By the late-1960s, the family was building shopping malls all over small-town Ontario. Joe Burnett also added construction financing and financial services to the mix. He's had occasional dust-ups with partners and regulators, but he always comes out on top. At a meeting with other grocery wholesalers, Burnett once offered this as a warning: "There will be no umbrellas, and you're going to get pissed on."
» Castle Burnett hides out in his three-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot mansion in Toronto's exclusive Forest Hill enclave. Though he purchased the property for $1.1 million in 1994, the renovated property is now valued, conservatively, at $5.8 million.
» Before he was king In his teens, Burnett ran a profitable business placing vending machines in Northern Ontario, netting him $1,000 a week while he attended school.
» Unwanted attention The Burnett family has been investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, Canada Revenue, the Ontario Securities Commission, the OPP, the RCMP and the FBI. Each time, Joe Burnett has emerged unscathed.
» Noblesse oblige Burnett has been known to contribute to the United Jewish Appeal Federation and Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as the Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals. He also sits as a director of the Baycrest Centre Foundation, a fundraising group for geriatric care.
»Heirs Burnett has two sons, Lorne and Sheldon; his daughter, Gail, runs the family-owned Royal de Versailles jewellery store.
»Recluse factor MEDIUM During his tax evasion trial in the 1980s, Burnett occasionally granted interview requests. Once the trial was over, however, he clammed up.
»Google faceoff Joseph Burnett vs. Philip Reichmann, CEO of O&Y Properties Corp.: 55 hits to 1,190 hits
Joseph Kruger
Kruger Inc.
»Lives Montreal »Worth $1 billion
For three generations, the Kruger family was the solid oak of Canada's pulp and paper industry. Led by Joseph Kruger II, however, this generation has threatened to tear the dynasty apart. Founded by Joseph Kruger I in 1904, Kruger Inc. specialized in the manufacture of fine paper. When his sons, Gene and Bernard, took over in 1928, the firm expanded into newsprint, tissue and paperboard. Today, Kruger Inc. has operations in Venezuela, Colombia, England and the U.S. Though the company is perhaps best known for its Scott Paper brand, it has recently spread its tentacles into hydroelectricity and wind-farm projects. The litigious era of the Kruger story began in 1975, when Gene's son, Joseph II—now the company's CEO—took over a Panamanian affiliate, cutting Bernard and his children out of the profits. The protracted dispute settled down in 1993, after Joseph II paid settlements totalling $136 million.
»Corporate crown jewels In 1997, Kruger Inc. purchased Scott Paper Ltd, along with the ScotTowel brand (now SpongeTowel).
»Castles The family owns a home on the outskirts of Westmount. On weekends, they retire to their country place in the Laurentian Mountains.
»Noblesse oblige The family regularly donates to Irish causes such as Concordia University's Canadian-Irish Studies Foundation.
»Unwanted attention In 1983, Revenue Canada investigators seized 160 boxes of documents belonging to Kruger Inc., alleging that Gene and Joseph Kruger had evaded taxes by falsely declaring themselves to be residents of Panama in 1980 and 1981. The Krugers' lawyers quickly had the seizure quashed in court.
»Blue-blood quotient Kruger was known to vacation at an Irish castle he had inherited, where he hunted with the local gentry.
»Who he runs with The far more gregarious Brian Tobin, who sits on Kruger's board.
»Trappings of wealth Kruger escapes to his country hideaway by private helicopter.
»Recluse factor MEDIUM-HIGH Some say that Joseph Kruger has avoided taking his 10,000-employee empire public, in part, because he finds the idea of addressing shareholders unappealing.
»Google faceoff Joseph Kruger vs. Raymond Royer, CEO of Domtar Inc.: 232 hits to 12,100 hits
