The majority of the shares in the Toronto News Company Limited were owned by two of the co-founders of the American News Company by 1889, and Irving's company eventually became a subsidiary of the American company, of which Irving owned shares. The Toronto News Company name itself lasted until 1918. With his wife Eliza ( Morgan), he had two sons and a daughter; one son died in childhood, another, Andrew Maxwell, died in 1896, and his daughter Nellie died in 1900. Irving's two granddaughters inherited most of his estate on his death in Toronto on 29 April 1904. Irving was buried in St. James Cemetery in Toronto. Irving is remembered as a pioneer in Canadian publishing, and had a reputation for discouraging the distribution of what was considered "trash" literature, promoting instead light literature with higher repute.