Sir James Denning Pearson FRAeS Wh.S.Sch (8 August 1908 – 1 August 1992) is a former Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Limited.
He was born in Bootle. His father died when he was eleven. He grew up in Cardiff.
He gained a First Class degree from Cardiff Technical College.
Pearson became a Whitworth Senior Scholar in 1930 having used his Scholarship to do steam turbine research at Metropolitan-Vickers and in 1985 became President of the Whitworth Society.[1]
He joined Rolls-Royce in 1932. During the Second World War, he was Chief Engineer at the R-R shadow factory in Glasgow, producing 150 Merlin engines a week.
He oversaw the expansion of Rolls-Royce into the jet aero-engine market in the 1960s.
He married Eluned Henry in 1932, and they had two daughters.
He was knighted in the 1963 New Year Honours.[2] He became an FRAeS in 1964 and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club in 1967.[3] He died in the Amber Valley of Derbyshire.