patron

noun

• 1a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, or cause:a celebrated patron of the arts
• a distinguished person who takes an honorary position in a charity:the Mental Health Foundation, of which Her Royal Highness is Patron

• 2a customer of a shop, restaurant, etc., especially a regular one:we surveyed the plushness of the hotel and its sleek, well-dressed patrons

• 3 Roman History a patrician in relation to a client.
• the former owner and (frequently) protector of a freed slave.

• 4British, chiefly historical a person or institution with the right to grant a benefice to a member of the clergy.