James Wright (doctor)

Wright had surgery for throat cancer and in February 2017 surgery for bowel cancer.

Wright made a fortune in the millions of dollars through property investments, mainly on the Queensland Gold Coast. In the early 2000s Wright was swindled out of A$57 million by a friend, New Zealander Derek Turner. "Turner had been his neighbour for 10 to 15 years and was a trusted acquaintance", Wright said. He also owned a motel and a funeral director's company for forty years, also a printing company.

In 1998, Wright was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his media outreach and the work of his foundation. In 2003, he was one of the three finalists in the "Australian of the Year" awards. Wright was awarded as the 2017 New South Wales Senior Australian of the Year.

In 1971, Wright and his wife Noreen established the charity Medi-Aid. It grew from an idea in Wright's teenage years to a national foundation that provides aged care accommodation for more than 700 elderly people. The foundation has several villages in Sydney, and one on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Its prime aim is to provide housing for the older community across all socio-economic levels.

Wright was a committed Seventh-day Adventist. He was a vegetarian, did not smoke or drink alcohol and exercised daily. In 1955 he married Noreen Westlake.

John Franklin Knight AM (12 December 1927 – 27 November 2022), known professionally as Dr James Wright, was an Australian medical professional who was notable for his books, television and radio appearances, and regular newspaper and magazine columns. He was also sometimes nicknamed "the Merry Medic".

Wright was born on 12 December 1927 in Brisbane, Queensland. When he was six months old his family moved to Sydney. He was raised on Fox Valley Road in Wahroonga, a northern Sydney suburb. His father was a Seventh-day Adventist minister. He had a "very strict, disciplinarian upbringing. (He) used to get a hiding pretty regularly". As with most Seventh-Day Adventism members, his family were strict vegetarians. His mother lived to 100 and his father to 90. He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. After graduating, he originally wanted to pursue a career in journalism, before deciding to become a doctor and studying medicine at the University of Sydney.