Sir James Woods KBE (1855 – April 25, 1941) was a Canadian industrialist and philanthropist who was knighted in 1915 for wartime industrial work and named
knight commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1917 for his work as a member of the British War Commission in New York.
In 1928, he was vice-president of Imperial Bank of Canada.
He was president of York Knitting Mills Ltd. and of Gordon Mackay and Company Ltd., a wholesale dry goods company. Archives of Gordon Mackay are held by Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.
In 1930, he proposed a merger of knitting mill companies including Zimmerknit and Gordon Mackay.
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Philanthropy
In 1912, he founded St. Christopher House, a settlement house in Toronto now known as West Neighbourhood House. Later, he was vice-chairman of the Health League of Canada.
Activism
He helped establish the "Forty to Fifty Club", which was intended to help men in this age group find appropriate work.