Belkin family

Net Worth: $949 million

Change from 2016: ▲5.5%
Rich 100 rank: #95
Change in rank from 2016: ▼1
Major company holdings: Belkorp Group
Location: Vancouver

Stuart Belkin, CEO of the family firm Belkorp Industries and chair of Rogers Sugar, a Belkorp holding, found himself parachuted into a clean-up job at the University of British Columbia last winter. The institution had been adrift since the acrimonious departure of president Arvind Gupta in August 2015 after less than a year on the job. Then John Montalbano stepped down as chair of the university’s board of governors over the mishandling of a case involving a professor’s academic freedom. No sooner had the provincial government appointed Belkin to a vacant seat on the board in December than he was elected chair, replacing interim chair Alice Laberge. In his new position, Belkin spearheaded the hiring of a new president, Santa Ono. Belkin is a UBC alumnus, having earned a BA in philosophy from the institution.

Beyond Rogers Sugar, the Belkin family’s interests include a golf course and more than 3,700 residential units in the United States—but the fortune started with a printing press. Stuart’s father, Morris Belkin, paid $150 for a Vancouver printing company while still studying at UBC. He built it into an empire worth $235 million before he died in 1987. One of six children, Stuart has been steering (and enlarging) the family fortune since then.

Rogers Sugar’s stock has experienced a breakout year on the Toronto Stock Exchange, gaining nearly 50%, despite weathering a strike at its Montreal refinery.