James Cruthers

Sir James Winter Cruthers, AO (born 20 December 1924) [ [http://www.burkes-peerage.net/familyhomepage.aspx?FID=0&FN=CRUTHERS Burke's Peerage - Preview Family Record ] ] is 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. [ [http://www.celebratewa.com.au/news.php?id=108 Words of Wisdom: Local Wisdom: The Events: Celebrate WA ] ]

After the war he became a cadet journalist at the "Daily News", and was there when the paper hired Paul Rigby as a cartoonist. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2006/11/16/1790242.htm Renowned cartoonist dies - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) ] ]

In 1958 he was appointed as founding general manager of WA television station TVW Channel 7. He later became chairman of the station. [http://www.lei.org.au/index.cfm?objectid=7CB0E365-96BA-5DAE-B5A7D221849D7C6C&CFID=4637428&CFTOKEN=295b13587fda4db8-2DA9029E-96BA-5DAE-BB62873F9055C5F1&jsessionid=3c302ed1f1904e7df427 History & Corporate Structure] ]

His past chairmanships include 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 is a philanthropist who established TVW Telethon and Perth's annual Christmas pageant. [ [http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/xmas98/stanley/stanley.html The TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health Research ] ] He supports many charitable groups, including the Lions Eye Institute (where he was a founding patron), UWA's Hackett Foundation [ [http://www.development.uwa.edu.au/the_hackett_foundation/hackett_patrons Office of Development - Hackett Patrons ] ] , Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital [ [http://intersector.wa.gov.au/current_issue//charliesart05.htm Welcome to InterSector - Communicating with the Public Sector ] ] , the Association of the Blind (WA) Guide Dogs [http://globalchallenge.com.au/centreofexcellence.htm] and the St George's Cathedral Restoration project [ [http://www.perthcathedral.org/content/view/50/64/ St Georges Cathedral - Key People ] ] . He was the business representative on UWA's Berndt Museum of Anthropology's advisory board [ [http://calendar.publishing.uwa.edu.au/latest/parta/otherboards?childfx=on Official Publications: Calendar - Other Boards and Committees ] ] .

Cruthers and his wife Sheila are strong supporters of the arts. His wife is especially interested in twentieth-century art by Australian women, and the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art is a collection of artworks by Australian women artists from the 1890s to the present [http://www.development.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/83651/Development_Newsletter_June_2005.pdf] . Both have supported the National Gallery of Australia and the US National Portrait Gallery. [ [http://www.nga.gov.au/AboutUs/Reports/Foundation0506.pdf foundation annual report 06.indd ] ] in May 2008 Cruthers and his wife donated the Cruthers Collection - more than 400 works by 155 Australian female artists including Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston and Susan Norrie - to UWA.

In 1998 and 1999 Cruthers was conference patron of ‘small screen BIG PICTURE’ [http://www.ssbp.com.au/pastspeakers.html] .

Cruthers received the honorary degree Doctor of Letters from University of Western Australia in 2005 [ [http://www.uwa.edu.au/media/statements/2005/february/uwa_awards_to_leading_west_australians Public Affairs - UWA Awards to leading West Australians ] ] .

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