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John Manwaring Davis '49

Apr. 26, 1928-Jan. 28, 2006

John Manwaring Davis ’49, a highly regarded physician who took a prominent role in advancing health care in his upstate New York community and beyond, was born on April 26, 1928, in Auburn, NY. A son of James L., also a physician, and Dorothy Manwaring Davis, he grew up in Newark, southeast of Rochester, and entered Hamilton from Newark High School in 1945. He joined Delta Upsilon and found time to improve his bridge-playing technique and volunteer for Hamilton’s fire department while also pursuing a premedical course of study. Credited by The Hamiltonian with “conviviality and whole-hearted devotion to the task at hand,” he was graduated in 1949.

After a stint of graduate study at Syracuse University, John Davis went on to New York Medical College, where he earned his M.D. degree in 1955. He was in residency at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse when called to active duty with the U.S. Army in 1957. He served for two years in the Army Medical Corps, including a tour in Germany. Discharged as a captain, he returned to Syracuse to complete his residency in internal medicine before establishing his private practice in his hometown of Newark in 1961.

Dr. Davis, who joined his father in group practice as a partner in the Newark Medical Center, also joined the staff of Newark-Wayne Community Hospital. In 1966, while serving as the hospital’s chief of medical services, he established its coronary and intensive care units. He also chaired the hospital’s peer review committee and subsequently served as its chief of staff (1976-1981) and medical director (1997 until his retirement in 2005). Described as “providing good old-fashioned care to his patients, but always based on the latest technology,” he combined cutting-edge medicine with the dedication and commitment of a small-town doctor.

A past president of the Wayne County Medical Society, Dr. Davis became a leader in the regional activities of the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association. Having taken a special interest in respiratory diseases throughout his years of practice, he served as president of the Lung Association’s state board as well as a member of its national board. Also a past president of the Finger Lakes Heart Association and member of the state board of the American Heart Association, he was formerly president of the New York State Tuberculosis Association and of the Finger Lakes Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association.

As a member of his hospital’s emergency cardiac care committee, Dr. Davis helped bring the first mobile coronary care unit to regional residents in 1976. He also served as president of the Empire Nine Emergency Medical Services, which was instrumental in training people for emergency response in Wayne and eight neighboring counties. In the battle against respiratory diseases, his efforts had a much wider impact when, as state president of the American Lung Association, he launched what turned out to be an 11-year campaign to get the state’s legislature to pass the Clean Indoor Air Act. It was finally passed in 1989, and in recognition of his efforts, Dr. Davis received one of the pens used by Governor Mario Cuomo in signing the bill into law.

In addition to his professional and community activities, John Davis was a collector of antiques and ardently devoted to the outdoors. He enjoyed fishing as well as gardening, and he also loved the woods and its flora and fauna. He took special pleasure in observing and photographing wildlife around his wooded-area home, where at least 40 birdhouses could be found. He fed corn and apples to deer during the winter, and even though he was the longtime secretary-treasurer of the 1249 Club, a group of local hunters, he personally could not bring himself to shoot game when they went camping in the Adirondacks.

John M. Davis, who had retired just a year earlier after 44 years in medical practice, died on January 28, 2006, in the familiar surroundings of Newark-Wayne Community Hospital. Married to the late Marjorie Taylor on August 16, 1952, in Newark, he is survived by their two sons and daughter, Christopher T. and Craig L. Davis, and Jane Perlaky. Also surviving are four grandchildren and three brothers. Dr. Davis, married for a second time, in 1978 to Yvonne J. McGhee, was predeceased by his third wife, the former Martha Jackson Kraham, whom he had wed in 1994.

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Note: Memorial biographies published prior to 2004 will not appear on this list.



Necrology Writer and Contact:
Christopher Wilkinson '68
Email: Chris.Wilkinson@mail.wvu.edu

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