Jim Pattison
| Jim Pattison | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 1, 1928 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia (dropped out) |
| Occupation | Owner of the Jim Pattison Group |
| Known for | Founder of the Jim Pattison Group |
| Net worth | US$4.9 billion (August 2016) |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Pattison |
| Children | 3 |
James Allen "Jim" Pattison, OC, OBC (born October 1, 1928) is a Canadian business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is based in Vancouver where he holds the position of Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and sole owner of the Jim Pattison Group, the second largest privately held company in Canada. He has been labelled Canada's fourth richest person.
Pattison's parents resided in the rural town of Luseland,Saskatchewan when he was born at the hospital in nearby Saskatoon. Growing up in East Vancouver, his first summer job was playing trumpet at a children's church camp and later picking fruit (raspberries, cherries, and peaches) during the summer while in high school. Pattison had many jobs while in high school, including selling doughnuts in the school parking lot, selling seeds door-to-door, delivering newspapers, and working as a page boy at the Georgia Hotel. He graduated from John Oliver Secondary School in 1947.
After high school, he worked in a cannery, a packing house, as a labourer building bridges in the mountains, and then for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a dining car attendant before accepting a job washing cars at a gas station with a small attached used-car lot. By chance, while the regular salesman was away, Pattison sold one of the cars on the lot and found his profession. He parlayed that success into a job selling used cars during the summer at one of the largest used-car lots in Vancouver, using his earnings to pay for his studies at the University of British Columbia (although he did not complete his studies being three classes short of a business degree).
After leaving school, he linked up with a local General Motors dealer and in 1961, using his sales skills to persuade a Royal Bank manager to lend him eight times the branch's limit, he opened a Pontiac dealership on Main street near his elementary school, and, a quarter century later, was selling more cars than anyone else in Western Canada.
His company, the largest privately held one in Canada owns numerous car dealerships, Peterbilt truck dealerships, Overwaitea Foods and Save-On-Foods, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Guinness World Records and radio & TV stations in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba. He also owned the Vancouver Blazers of the World Hockey Association.
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