Jim Pattison

James (Jimmy) Allen Pattison, CM, OBC, (born October 1, 1928 in Saskatoon [ [http://www.horatioalger.com/members/member_info.cfm?memberid=Pat04 The Horatio Alger Association] ] , Saskatchewan) is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur who is the chairman, president, CEO, and sole owner of the Jim Pattison Group. His company, the third largest privately held company in Canada [ [http://www.business.ualberta.ca/ext-relations/media/releases/2005/20050926.htm University of Alberta School of Business] ] owns numerous car dealerships, Overwaitea Foods and Save-On-Foods, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and radio & TV stations in British Columbia and Alberta. He also owned the Vancouver Blazers of the World Hockey Association. Pattison helped organize Expo 86 in Vancouver, acting as the CEO and president of the Expo 86 Corporation. He is involved with the committee for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. On February 15 2008, Jim Pattison Group announced the purchase of the GWR organization, the company known for its Guinness World Records franchise. Aptly enough, its annual book, published in more than 100 countries in 37 languages, is the world's best-selling copyright book.

Pattison has been generous with his fortune, making many donations of $1 million or more to causes he supports.

Among other honours, Pattison is a recipient of both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia. He was also listed as No. 178 on the 2008 Forbes list of the world's richest people. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Jim-Pattison_TPTE.html Forbes] ] . He is also listed as the 6th richest Canadian. [ [http://www.canadianbusiness.com/after_hours/lifestyle_activities/article.jsp?content=20061204_83955_83955 The Rich 100: The Rich List | After Hours | Gotta Do It | Canadian Business Online ] ]

Pattison, who owns 25% of the shares of Canfor, was recently in a dispute over governance with money manager Stephen A. Jarislowsky, whose firm owns 18%. Pattison won and ousted CEO Jim Shepherd over Canfor's poor performance and declining share price, replacing him for the interim with Jim Shepard. [http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=fb5f68f1-5946-4b46-8a1b-6428db31d1d7]

Further reading

*Jimmy: An Autobiograpy by Jim Pattison and Paul Grescoe (1987)
*Pattison: Portrait of a capitalist superstar by Russell Kelly (Nov 1986)

ee also

*Lists of billionaires
*Expo 86

External links

*Biography on the [http://www.protocol.gov.bc.ca/protocol/prgs/obc/1990/1990_JPattison.htm Order of British Columbia website] .
*Entry on [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1307 Order of Canada website] .
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/009/000123637/ NNDB entry]
* [http://www.jimpattison.com The Jim Pattison Group main website]
* [http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=fb5f68f1-5946-4b46-8a1b-6428db31d1d7 Jimmy got Mad]

Multimedia

* [http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/business/clip/14929/ CBC Archives] - Jim Pattison and Expo 86 (from 1985).

References