james oswald fairfax (27 march 1933 – 11 january 2017) was an australian company director and philanthropist. he was a member of the fairfax family, an australian family in the newspaper publisher industry. he became a director of john fairfax &amp; 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 fairfax, during 'young warwick's' ultimately disastrous takeover bid.