John Lowell Gardner Jr. (November 26, 1837 – December 10, 1898) was an American businessman, art collector, and philanthropist.

[1] Gardner's mother, Catherine Endicott Peabody (1808–1883),[2] of Brookline, Massachusetts, was the daughter of the Salem shipowner, Joseph Peabody (1757–1844), who made a fortune importing pepper from Sumatra and was one of the wealthiest men in the United States at the time of his death in 1844.

After spending time at Harvard, Gardner joined his father's East Indies trading business.

Some of those ships were as follows (clipper ships are not linked): Arabia, Bunker Hill, California, Democrat, Duxbury, Eclipse, Gentleman, Grotius, Lenore, Lepanto, Lotos, Marquis de Somerulas, Mars, Monterey, Nabob, Napke, Naples, Pallas, Pioneer, Plant, Plato, Ruble, Sappho, Shawmut, St Paul, Snake in the Grass, Sumatra, Thetis, and Unicorn.

[6] On the evening of December 10, 1898, Gardner died from "apoplexy" (a stroke) at the Exchange Club in Boston.