Gardner Cowles Sr. (1861–1946) was an American banker, publisher, and politician.

His father William Fletcher Cowles was a Methodist minister and widower who had three prior children; his mother was Maria Elizabeth LaMonte.

Becoming a businessman, he was a stockholder and officer in ten area Iowa banks and also a large-scale farmer.

Newspapers were distributed to all four corners of the state by train and later by truck as Iowa's highway system was improving.

[6] Before his death he established the Gardner Cowles Foundation to support Iowa colleges and charities; one of his gifts was a library building at Drake University.