Patrick Burns (businessman)
Patrick Burns | |
|---|---|
Pat Burns, 1931. | |
| Canadian Senator from Alberta | |
| In office July 6, 1931 – June 1, 1936 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Patrick O'Byrne July 6, 1856 |
| Died | February 24, 1937 (aged 80) |
| Party | Independent |
| Spouse |
Eileen Ellis (m. 1901) |
| Parent(s) | Michael and Bridget O'Byrne |
| Occupation |
|
Patrick Burns (July 6, 1856 – February 24, 1937) was a Canadian politician, rancher, meat packer, businessman, and philanthropist. A self-made man of wealth, he built one of the world's largest integrated meat-packing empires, P. Burns & Co., becoming one of the wealthiest Canadians of his time. He is honoured as one of the Big Four western cattle kings who started the Calgary Stampede in Alberta in 1912.
He made his fortune in the meat industry, but ranching was his true passion. Burns's 700,000 acres (2,800 km2) of cattle ranches covered so vast an area of Southern Alberta that he boasted about being able to travel from Cochrane to the US border without ever leaving his land.
In 1931, he was appointed to the Canadian Senate as a representative for Alberta. On October 16, 2008, the Calgary Herald named Burns as Alberta's Greatest Citizen.