Joseph & Ted Burnett

Net Worth:
$2.29 billion
(▲5.5% from 2017)

Rich 100 rank: #44
Change in rank from 2017: ▼3
Major company holdings: Burnac Corp.
Location: Toronto
Age: 81 and 70

Joseph and Ted Burnett jointly head up Burnac Corp., a family-run firm that invests in real estate and grocery produce distribution, but in recent years they have been exiting these businesses and transitioning into bonds for their estate-planning purposes. Joseph spent the better part of the 1980s in a nine-year court battle for tax evasion charges before being cleared in 1991. Over the years, the Burnetts have been investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, Canada Revenue Agency, the SEC and others, but no improprieties have been found.

The family’s wealth began when the brothers’ father invested $300 in a truck to take produce from Toronto wholesalers to mines in Sudbury, Ont. From this humble investment grew the Super-Carnaval grocery chain, which he eventually sold to Metro-Richelieu.

Updated Thursday, November 9, 2017