Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC ED CD (September 8, 1871 – January 6, 1972) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.

[1] As a young man, he worked for a short time in a local hardware store, then in 1887 became an apprentice in the upholstery shop of his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works,[2] which had opened in 1867 and at one time was the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire.

[1] With engines from William C. Durant of Buick, he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company, incorporated on November 20, 1907.

He sold his Chevrolet company stock in 1918 and became president of General Motors of Canada, which continued to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942.

He continued to serve on the board of General Motors until the early 1960s, and was coincidentally replaced by Royal Bank of Canada president Earle McLaughlin, his first cousin once removed.

McLaughlin Hall at St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario, which he unveiled in 1971 at age 99, is named after him in recognition of his contributions to the school.

Among other gifts, he gave Lawren Harris`s Pic Island, Arthur Lismer`s Bright Land, and Emily Carr`s Old Tree at Dusk to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg.

In his youth, McLaughlin competed in cycling and yachting, and he was an equestrian show jumping champion at competitions in Canada and the United States.