Philip James Ayres (28 July 1944 – 15 August 2021)[1] was an Australian biographer and literary historian, described by High Court Justice Dyson Heydon as "one of the best biographers this country has ever produced".[2] Of German and Anglo-Scottish cultural heritage, he was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (London), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and a recipient of the Centenary Medal in 2001 for contributions to literature.[3]