Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) was an American journalist. He is noted for his humorous sketches in which an Irish saloonkeeper named Mr. Dooley commented on current events.

Peter Dunne was born July 10, 1867, in Chicago, the fifth of seven children of an orthodox Catholic immigrant couple from Ireland. Peter (at 19 he added Finley to his name) graduated from high school in 1884. He covered sports and police courts for several newspapers, then became city editor of the Chicago Times when he was 21. Responsible positions on other papers followed. On the staff of the Evening Post in 1892, he met Mary Ives Abbott, a cultivated book reviewer for the Post, who recognized Dunne's promise and began to guide him. She introduced him to Chicago's select society.

In 1892 Dunne published his first sketch in Irish dialect in the Post. His protagonist, modeled upon a taciturn but witty saloonkeeper named James McGarry, was called...