Sir Vincent Fairfax
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Vincent Fairfax (1909 - 1993) was a fourth generation Australian who served his country in war and peace. He began his life in rural Queensland, at Cambooya near Toowoomba, and never lost his links with rural life and the land.
Vincent Fairfax was a leading member of the business community, holding numerous directorships and official positions with some of Australia's major financial firms, organisations with interests in rural Australia and the Anglican Church. He was a Chairman of the AMP and a Director of John Fairfax Limited, publishers of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and other newspapers. His great grandfather, John Fairfax, was an early proprietor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
Throughout his life, Vincent Fairfax was recognised as a person who maintained an extraordinary capacity for work, while also giving his time and patronage to charitable and voluntary institutions. He was a philanthropist who believed that wealth and influence brought responsibility and an obligation to serve the community.
In 1962, Vincent Fairfax became the first Fairfax in Australia to establish a family charitable trust, which would later become the VFFF. In a note to his family on Christmas Eve 1973, explaining his motivation for establishing the trust, Vincent Fairfax wrote:
"This action was taken on the basis that my children are well provided for and, hopefully, in their turn will contribute further assets to this Family pot of gratitude for all the benefits we have received since landing in Australia in 1838."
Source: Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation website, accessed 11/12/2007