Patrick J. Ottensmeyer, the final President and CEO of Kansas City Southern, has died.
Ottensmeyer held the post from 2015 until April 14, 2023, when the merger of Canadian Pacific and KCS, which created Canadian Pacific Kansas City, was completed.
He also served as the U.S. Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Mexico Economic Council from 2019 to 2023. In this role as leader of the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue, he was instrumental in representing business interests during the formation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement from 2017-2020.
Among his many career recognitions, Ottensmeyer received the North American Rail Shippers Association Edward R. Hamberger Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. He was a two-time Railway Age Railroader of the Year (2020 and 2022) and received Progressive Railroading’s Railroad Innovator Award in 2019.
CPKC said it will honor Ottensmeyer by lowering flags to half-mast across its network.
