Life and Career
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 in children's church camps. After finding his calling, selling cars, he opened a GM car dealership in 1961 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 third largest privately held company in Canada owns numerous car dealerships, Overwaitea Foods and Save-On-Foods, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Guinness World Records and radio & TV stations in British Columbia and Alberta. He also owned the Vancouver Blazers of the World Hockey Association.
Pattison led the organization of Expo 86 in Vancouver as the CEO and president of the Expo 86 Corporation. When he was appointed to The Order of BC the award noted, "Although others may have had the initial vision for Expo ’86, it was Jimmy Pattison who was the expediter – the one more than anyone else who made it happen. He demanded much of his team but no more than he himself was prepared to give. This he did, almost full-time over a five-year period, without compensation..."
He was 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 copyrighted book.
Among other honours, Pattison is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia. He was also listed as No. 178 on the 2008 Forbes list of the world's richest people. He is also listed as the 4th richest Canadian.
Pattison, who owns approximately 30% of the shares of Canfor, was recently in a dispute over governance with money manager Stephen A. Jarislowsky, whose firm owned 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.
On April 16, 2009 Jim Pattison announced that Save-On Foods has donated $100,000 to CBC Television in order to rent high definition trucks for away games during the Vancouver Canucks' 2009 1st round NHL playoff series versus the St. Louis Blues. Prior to this donation, CBC stated that it would not broadcast HD away games in St. Louis due to the cost of renting high definition equipment during the current tough economic times and major cuts to funding for the CBC by the federal government.
He married his childhood sweetheart, Mary. They have 3 children.
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