Canada’s Warren Buffett is a 90-year-old former used-car salesman

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Jim Pattison, chief executive officer and founder of Jim Pattison Group Inc., pumps gas into a pickup truck during a tour of his holdings near Russell, Manitoba, Canada, on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018.

Jim Pattison may not be a household name but the third richest Canadian maybe should be.

“Back in Omaha, I’m known as the Jim Pattison of the United States,” joked Warren Buffett when he spoke at Canada’s Walk of Fame inductee ceremony in Toronto, according to told Bloomberg News.

Despite the comparison from the Oracle of Omaha himself, Pattison insists Buffett speaks too highly of him. “Warren Buffett is in a class all by himself,” Pattison told Bloomberg in an interview.

Despite a personal fortune of about $6.3 billion, the 90-year-old Pattison drives himself across rural Canada in a silver pickup truck, Bloomberg reported. In case he doesn’t find a motel as he’s touring companies, Pattison keeps a sleeping bag and pillow in the back of the truck.

Pattison’s first business was a Pontiac Buick dealership he bought in 1961. It was a natural transition from salesman to businessman for Pattison, because at age 7 he began selling agriculture seeds door to door. By the time Pattison was a teenager, he was one of the best salesmen of subscriptions to the Saturday Evening Post.

The Jim Pattison Group is the second largest company in Canada. With nearly $7.4 billion in assets, the global conglomerate has operations in 85 countries. Pattison is unrelenting in his search for business opportunities, investing and operating unabashed in everything from grocery stores to fisheries to billboards. Additionally, Pattison owns both the “Guinness World Records” franchise and the sprawling Ripley Entertainment group.

Read the full Bloomberg News story here.