Mr James, 89, died on Wednesday after an 11-year battle with prostate cancer.

Alongside his Barry James Smash Repairs company, Mr James also started Barry James Cranes, was a race horse trainer for 62 years, developed new property estates in Delacombe and in the late 1980s donated the land to build Lumen Christi Primary School.

Less than two months ago Mr James was honoured for 75 years of service by the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce, the first person to reach that milestone and likely the only.

Mr James' son Glen said his father was always appreciative of the support he received from the Ballarat community, and thought Ballarat was the best place in the world.

"I sat with my parents, and said 'you've done a few things with your life, you've been fortunate to go overseas and see parts of the world, what's the best place you've been to?'," Glen said.

"Ballarat," he answered. "Ballarat has been very good to me. Why would you want to be anywhere else?"

And he recently taped a message for Ballarat to help support them through the pandemic, despite his failing health.

"He was losing his speech, his jaw movement and vocabulary was fading away three or four weeks before he went in to hospital," Glen said.

"We sat in his office, with a script in block letters because his eyesight was failing ... and we did four takes but he kept messing it up toward the end because he was getting tired."

Glen told his father to leave it and not worry, but Mr James was adamant he would complete it.

"I want this done. The people of Ballarat have been very good supporting me through my life and I want to show my appreciation ... I want them to know what I think of them."

Mr James learned the value of initiative, enterprise, industry, gratitude and respect from his childhood, having collected washing from US marines in Victoria Park during World War II for his mother to do to earn some extra cash, then delivering the freshly laundered clothes back to the troops.

He began his apprenticeship as a panel beater at 14 and went on to build Barry James Smash Repairs.

"While running the panel shop he saw a need in the demand for cranes considering how quickly Ballarat was going ahead with construction ... and purchased an existing crane business to create Barry James Cranes," Glen said.

After he retired, eldest sons Brendan and Gavin took over the crane business which grew to service jobs right across Australia, before it was brought out by a conglomerate. Glen stayed on in the smash repair business which he now runs.

Glen also joined his father for a period as a racehorse trainer.

Mr James had been around horse racing from child, learning from his father Roy and Arthur Smerdon and the family home of almost 50 years in Wiltshire Lane, Delacombe, featured stables, a training track and other training facilities before they moved their training closer to the Ballarat racecourse.

It was at that time that he recognised the growth of Ballarat would be to the south west and after donating the land where Lumen Christi Primary School now stands he subdivided the property as housing blocks.

"The diocese was having trouble finding a place to put a school, and as a consequence of that and his faith and desire to do something for the community he donated that land to them to put a footy oval and school on," Glen said.

"He was very much a kind man and a loving husband, and as the saying goes behind every successful man is a good woman."

That "good woman" is Mr James' wife Lois, 85. The couple met when She was 14 and he was 18.

The couple had seven children: Mark, Gavin, Brendan, Anita, Glen, Lisa and Kelly. Mark died of a hole in the heart when he was a baby. There are now 17 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren as well.

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"There are a lot of old businesses in Ballarat that continue through the generations of families and it's important those businesses continue to thrive, flourish and we support them.

"He loved Ballarat, loved the community of Ballarat and was so appreciative of the support Ballarat gave him and what he did."

Barry James will be farewelled next Wednesday at 2pm with a funeral at St Patrick's Cathedral.

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