James Cruthers

Sir James Winter Cruthers AO (20 December 1924 – 13 October 2015) was an Australian business executive and philanthropist.

He was educated at Claremont Central State School and Perth Technical College, leaving school at 16. He started work at the Daily News newspaper in Perth in 1939 and joined the forces in 1940. During the Second World War he was a RAAF pilot.

After the war he became a cadet journalist at the Daily News, and was there when the paper hired Paul Rigby as a cartoonist.

In 1958 he was appointed as founding general manager of WA television station TVW Channel 7. He later became chairman of the station.

His chairmanships included the Australian Film Commission and News American Publishing Inc where he was personal adviser to Rupert Murdoch. In 1999 he was chairman of The Sunday Times newspaper.

Cruthers was a philanthropist who established TVW Telethon and Perth's annual Christmas pageant. He supported many charitable groups, including the Lions Eye Institute (where he was a founding patron),UWA's Hackett Foundation,Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, the Association of the Blind (WA) Guide Dogs and the St George's Cathedral Restoration project. He was the business representative on UWA's Berndt Museum of Anthropology's advisory board.

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