Patrick Burns (July 6, 1856 – February 24, 1937) was a Canadian
rancher,
meat packer, businessperson,
senator, 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. While making his fortune in the meat industry, ranching was his true passion. Burns' of
cattle ranches covered so vast an area of
Southern Alberta that he could 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.