Jim Thompson (designer)

Jim Thompson
Jim Thompson
Born	James Harrison Wilson Thompson; March 21, 1906; Greenville, Delaware, U.S.
Disappeared	March 26, 1967 (aged 61); Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia
Status	Declared dead in absentia by a Thai court in 1974
Education	Princeton University; University of Pennsylvania;
Occupation	Co-founder of the Thai Silk Company Limited
Known for	being a spy during the Second World War.; reviving the Thai silk industry in the 1950s/1960s.; being a major collector of Southeast Asian art.; constructing the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok, Thailand.; "mysteriously" disappearing from the Cameron Highlands without a trace.;

James Harrison Wilson Thompson (March 21, 1906 – disappeared March 26, 1967; declared dead 1974) was an American businessman who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 1960s. At the time of his disappearance he was one of the most famous Americans living in Asia. Time magazine claimed he "almost singlehanded(ly) saved Thailand's vital silk industry from extinction".

Investigation in 2023 by Thai authorities found that Thompson had smuggled a large number of antiquities from Thailand and sold them in the United States and the United Kingdom and Thompson also had relationship with smuggler Douglas Latchford. The objects smuggled by Thompson include those removed from the Si Thep Historical Park during 1960s.