RAMSAY, James Stewart AO (1923-1996)
Arts benefactor, James Ramsay, the son of Sir J Ramsay was born in Tasmania and was one of only two Tasmanian Collegians during his period at the Geelong College where he was a boarder from 1940 to 1942. He had previously attended Scotch College in Launceston.
During World War II he worked with the Volunteer Defence Corps and he was demobilised in December 1943. Early in his commercial career he moved as a credit manager in 1963 to South Australia where he began a life-long support of artistic endeavour in that state.
He was a major donor and active member of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Australian National Gallery, Australian Ballet, State Opera of South Australia and the Royal College of Surgeons and the National Trust. He was notable as the No 1 ticket holder for the Adelaide Festival of Arts and was elected an honorary Life Member in 1991. His support for the arts was recognized in 1992 when he became an Officer of the Order of Australia ‘for service to the arts, particularly the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Australian Ballet and to the Community’.
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