one who serves as an emotional substitute for a father, one looked up to or respected as a father
If you describe someone as a father figure, you mean that you feel able to turn to that person for advice and support in the same way that you might turn to your father. She believed her daughter needed a father-figure He became a father figure to the whole company. An older man, often one in a position of power or influence, who elicits the emotions usually reserved for a father. an older man who you trust and respect father figure to/for