Mary Couts Burnett (1856 – December 16, 1924) was a wealthy philanthropist who donated the bulk of her estate to Texas Christian University.

Her father was a cattleman who relocated his family to Parker County, Texas, where he established a bank in Weatherford.

The couple had one child, Samuel Burk Burnett Jr., who died one month short of his twenty-first birthday in 1916.

Samuel Burnett's reaction was to have her declared legally insane and committed to an asylum in a private home.

TCU president E.M. Waits requested the new building be named the Mary Couts Burnett Library.