E. WILLIAM DAVIS

DAVIS--Dr. E. William, Jr. Dr. E. William Davis, Jr., 94, a pioneering leader in the field of medical ethics, died from complications of congestive heart failure in New York City at the Silvercrest Nursing Facility, an adjunct of New York Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, where he had been actively and deeply committed as a student, physician, and administrator for over seven decades. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Dr. Davis was a freshman at Case Western Reserve at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. He enlisted in the Navy and was sent to Harvard University for OSS (the predecessor of the CIA) communications training, before serving the entirety of World War II in the Pacific Theatre as Port Director for Jinsen, Korea and Taku, China. Supported by the G.I. bill, he graduated from Wesleyan University (Connecticut) in 1947 and Cornell Medical School (1951), and established an obstetrics and gynecology practice in New York City as a clinical professor of OB-GYN at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Davis was dedicated to women's health and delighted in delivering babies from a broad range of families over the course of his professional career, including the first set of conjoined twins to survive at New York Hospital (now New York Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine). Committed to excellence in medicine for all and to the centrality of patient care, he championed the important role of nurses to the success of medical teams at a time when the majority were women of diverse backgrounds. In 1958, he married the late Lillian Bostwick Davis, an artist and member of the Board of Control of the Art Students League of New York, who died suddenly in 1966, leaving Dr. Davis the sole parent of four children under the age of seven. Dr. Davis later focused on his GYN practice and continued to lead in the medical field, serving in 1987 as the first director of Quality Assurance and Vice President of Medical Affairs at New York Hospital, and establishing and chairing in 1994 the Hospital's first Ethics Committee, now celebrating its 25th year. He played major roles in the merger with Columbia Presbyterian and architectural expansions, ensuring that the distinctive Gothic arches of New York Hospital's building appeared on the newer East River facade, all the while serving as a devoted mentor, advisor and friend to the hospital community. In 2011, the Hospital established the E. William Davis, Jr., M.D., '47 Professorship of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Davis generously shared his professional expertise and gracious demeanor in many humanitarian and philanthropic capacities, as trustee of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the International Center for the Disabled, Gracie Square Hospital, and the Animal Medical Center. He was Trustee Emeritus of the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT, founded by his wife's grandmother, Electra Havemeyer Webb. Dr. Davis is survived by his four children; his sons, Christopher and Jonathan of Charlotte, VT; his daughters, Elliot of West Palm Beach, FL, and Alexandra, of New York City; nine grandchildren; and his devoted friend, Richard L. Duchano. A Memorial Service is scheduled for June 11th at St. James' Church, New York City, with private burial to follow in Shelburne, VT. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the E. William Davis, Jr., M.D., '47, Professorship of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medicine or the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.