Forbes puts Jimmy Pattison's net worth at $5.5 billion

Jimmy Pattison grew up poor as a Depression-era kid on Vancouver's East Side. But he's now the 219th richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.

The business publication's annual list of billionaires puts the 84-year-old's net worth at $5.5 billion.

Pattison made his fortune by selling cars, owning a neon-sign company, operating media outlets, and selling groceries through Overwaitea Foods and later Save-On Foods.

He has since diversified into forestry—becoming the largest shareholder of Canfor Corporation—as well as real estate and coal exports, through his company's ownership of Westshore Terminals.

The privately owned Jim Pattison Group also owns Ripley's Believe It or Not museums, and has claimed annual sales of $7.3 billion.

The richest Canadian on the Forbes list is Globe and Mail majority owner David Thomson, whose family is worth an estimated $20.3 billion. He ranks 24th.

The richest man is no longer Bill Gates, who checked in at $67 billion. That's because Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has blown by him with a $73-billion fortune.

The wealthiest Asian is Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing at $31 billion. He achieved fame in Vancouver when he bought the Expo site after the 1986 World's Fair, which was chaired, coincidentally, by Pattison.