William Arthur Irwin

William Arthur Irwin, OC, often credited as W. Arthur Irwin (May 27, 1898 – August 9, 1999), was a Canadian journalist and diplomat. He is best known for his work on Maclean's, a magazine with which he held various positions across a quarter of a century. He also served as the Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and as Canadian high commissioner or ambassador.

Life and career Irwin was born in Ayr, Ontario, on 27 May 1898 to Reverend Alexander J. Irwin and Amelia (Hassard). During the First World War he served abroad, He became a journalist while still a student, working at The Mail and Empire for $30 a week. In the 1940s he also began working for the United Nations, an organisation with which he continued to be associated through to the 1960s. He had been recruited to try to restore the Board's public image and combat the perceived threat of communism within the organisation. Some NFB staff were concerned about Irwin's appointment, both because of his complete lack of any experience in the film industry and because Maclean's sister publication, the Financial Post, had made damaging revelations about communist elements in the NFB. She was working as a scriptwriter at the NFB when he arrived there in 1950. as well as a lengthy interview at his hundredth birthday in May 1998.

He died in Victoria in 1999, at the age of 101. He was survived by Page and by his three children from his first marriage.