FLORENCE DAVIS

DAVIS--Florence Ann, 68. Beloved mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, colleague, friend, and much more, died at home on May 21, following a battle with ovarian cancer. From 1999 until her death, Florence served as president of The Starr Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the country - a role in which she came to know and love much of the world, but especially New York City, her home. Raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Florence graduated from Wellesley College in 1976 with highest honors, a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1979, she earned a law degree from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar. She practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell before moving to Morgan Stanley, where she became a Principal and Director of Worldwide Regulatory Affairs. In 1995, at scarcely 40 years old, with two young children, Florence became Vice President and General Counsel of American International Group, Inc., a role she held for four years. She made it look easy - or, at the very least, she made it look possible. Florence was a role model for many people, particularly young mothers working in male-dominated industries. She was deeply engaged with innumerable charitable organizations and educational institutions, including as a trustee of New York University and its law school; a trustee of the New York Botanical Garden; and with the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Rescue Committee, and the Newman's Own Foundation. (We are hopeful that in the afterlife she will once again get to sit next to Paul Newman on a plane.) She loved gardening, Cape Cod, gimmicky tchotchkes, the salty ends of roasted meat, puzzles and word games, the Science Times, nature shows, and entertaining other peoples' babies on mass transit. She was tough, she was kind; she was an incredible mother. Anyone wishing to make contributions in Florence's memory may consider any of the charities in which she was involved, but her family would like to give special mention to the New York Botanical Garden and the Louisiana Parole Project. She is survived by two daughters, Rebecca and Sarah Davis O'Brien; her mother Charlotte Davis McGhee; her stepfather Richard McGhee Jr.; her sister Netta Davis; her brother Barnett Davis III; her granddaughter Dusty Davis Orwall; and many cousins, step-children and step-grandchild- ren. She was predeceased by her father, Richard Max Davis, and her second husband, Anthony Gooch.