James Samuel Davis

1945 - 2021

James Samuel Davis

New York City, NY - James Samuel Davis died on May 15, 2021, in New York City after suffering a brief illness. Raised in Concord, North Carolina, he had deep roots on his mother's side at the Harper family farm in Woodington, NC. He received an A.B. in History from Harvard College in 1966 and received a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1969. He had a long career as an estate attorney at Bingham, Dana and Gould in Boston. He lived on Beacon Hill before retiring to Manhattan.

Jim was a life-long student of architecture and history from the days of Voltaire to the current conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. He traveled to both of those countries, to see the archeological sites and modern cities of Aleppo and Damascus before the war and to steep himself in Ukrainian culture in Lviv and Kyiv.

In New York City, he took great interest in the American Ballet Theater and had of late been studying indigenous American history and reading Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and Gorky. He never stopped learning new things and felt that there was always more to explore. He became a devoted New Yorker and was a daily patron of his corner café, Le Grainne Café, in Chelsea. When it had to close for Covid, they wrote below the notice on the door the words "Sorry, Jim." He'd found a wonderful new home. His family and many friends will miss him terribly, his intelligence, his loyalty, and his affection.

He is survived by his sister Margery Knight and nephews Stuart and Bryan Irby and their families. A private family service will be held in Woodington.

Memorial gifts may be made to The National Trust for Historic Preservation at savingplaces.org or Earthjustice Environmental Law at earthjustice.org/ .