been named as the 18th richest person in the world by Forbes magazine with a fortune estimated at $5 billion.

The 93-year-old publicity-shy Canadian, who hails from New Brunswick, spends much of his time on his small house in Southampton, from where he controls his vast business empire.

A living legend in the business world, K.C. started with a single gas station in 1924 in Canada.

He went on to own 1,000 service stations, two million acres of timber in Canada and the US, paper mills, Canada's largest oil refinery, trucking companies, one of Canada's top shipyards, a fleet of ships, and the entire English-language Press in New Brunswick.

Mr. Irving's three sons, James, Arthur and Jack, are college drop-outs -- just like their father. They help manage the family business.

Mr. Irving lives an extremely quiet existence in Bermuda, very much keeping himself to himself.

Just behind Mr. Irving, in 19th spot on the Forbes list, is the US-based MacMillan-Cargill family, also with a fortune of around $5 billion. Ms Marion MacMillan, 59, owns Perot's Island, in Bermuda.

She and her two brothers inherited their wealth from their father Mr. John MacMillan Jr., who ran the family's Midwestern grain trading business Cargill, Inc. until his death in 1960. Cargill is the largest privately-owned company in the US.

Ms MacMillan bought Perot's Island from Mrs. Walter Jones a few years ago but decided to sell it after failing to establish a New Age haven there.

She sold it to Canadian Mr. Michael de Groote, a former chief executive of a Canadian firm Laidlaw Transportation, but the sale is now tied up in a court dispute.

Forbes magazine has only released the names of the world's top 25 rich people.

The full list of 291 names, which is expected to throw up more Bermuda links through people such as undeclared US presidential candidate Mr. Ross Perot and Royal Bermuda Yacht Club member Mr. John Kluge, will appear in the magazine's July 20 issue.

Heading the list with wealth valued at $23.8 million is the Walton family, who made their money from the chain of Wal-Mart stores in the US.