James Oswald Fairfax, AC (born 27 March 1933), Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n company director and arts patron, was born in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, eldest son of Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax

Warwick Oswald Fairfax

Sir Warwick Oswald Fairfax was an Australian businessman prominent in the arts.He was the son of James Oswald Fairfax and grandson of John Fairfax....

.

Educated at Cranbrook School, Geelong Grammar School

Geelong Grammar School

Geelong Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, co-educational, boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located at Corio, on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay....

 and Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

, he became a director of John Fairfax & Sons Ltd in 1957 and took over from his father in 1977. He resigned in 1987 and sold his shares to his half brother Warwick Geoffrey Oswald Fairfax, during 'young Warwick's' ultimately disastrous takeover bid.

A prominent art collector, initially of Australian art, but from the 1960s increasingly of European old masters, he was a generous supporter of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Art Gallery of New South Wales

The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...

 and the National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Australia

The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...

.

A memoir was published in 1991: Fairfax, James, My regards to Broadway : a memoir, Pymble, N.S.W. : Angus & Robertson, 1991.

A catalogue of his collection of art has also been published: Beresford, Richard, The James Fairfax collection of old master paintings, drawings and prints / Richard Beresford, Peter Raissis, Sydney : Art Gallery of New South Wales, c2003, Published to accompany an exhibition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 April - 20 July 2003.

Honours

He was appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia

Order of Australia

The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 in 1993.

In the Australia Day

Australia Day

Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...

Honours of 2010, he was elevated to Companion of the Order (AC), for eminent service to the community through support and philanthropy for the visual arts, conservation organisations and building programs for medical research and educational facilities.