Charles Fowler Williams Burns CM (27 September 1907 – 25 October 1982) was a Canadian investment dealer.

Also in 1936, Charles and Latham founded a second investment house, Burns Bros. Limited, which dealt in government and corporate securities.

In July 1994, Burns Fry was taken over by Nesbitt, Thomson and Company, which had been a subsidiary of the Bank of Montreal since 1987.

The amalgamated firm, BMO Nesbitt Burns, remains one of Canada's largest brokerage houses.

Charles had an older brother, Herbert Latham (1906–1936), and two younger siblings, John Harrison (1908–1935), and Constance Isobel (1913–1983).

[1] After leaving university in 1928, Burns joined his father's bank in the call loan department.

He worked for a bank for a year, and in then in 1929 joined Campbell Stratton as a floor trader at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In February 1936, Burns borrowed $50,000 from his mother-in-law to purchase a seat on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

[4] On 1 August 1941, a month short of turning 34, Burns joined the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Burns spent a year in England, before being assigned to RCAF Eastern Air Command in the Maritimes.

He was tasked with organising the Command's flight control, which involved locating and rescuing downed crews and directing damaged aircraft to safety.

Besides his work in the investment world, Burns spent much of his career with the Crown Life Insurance Company, where his father had been chairman of the board.

[13] Burns held directorates with Canadian Breweries, the Algoma Central Railway, Telegram Publishing Company, Chartered Trust, Monarch Knitting, Maple Leaf Gardens, General Accident Assurance, Wool Combing Corporation, Scottish Canadian Assurance Corporation, Jockey Club of Toronto, Toronto Argonaut Football Club, Denison Mines, Harry E. Foster Agencies, Gridoil Freehold Leases, Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada, Baton Broadcasting, United Steel, Huron Forest Products, Devon Dairy, Investment Management Corporation, and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

On 23 February 1934 at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Ottawa, Burns married Janet Mary Wilson (1911–1999).

After the war, Charles built Kingfield Farms near King City, Ontario, where he began breeding Guernsey cattle and later opened a racing stable.

The funeral was held at All Saints' Anglican Church in King City on Friday, 29 October.