Sam H. Davis Jr.

Sam H. Davis, Jr. Beloved husband, father, stepfather, grandfather, uncle, friend, neighbor and professor, Sam H. Davis, Jr. passed away peacefully on the morning of December 25th, 2022.

A professor at Rice University for 50 years (1957-2008), Sam taught primarily chemical engineering and loved teaching thousands of students. Beyond the Rice campus, he contributed research to various projects including NASA's space program, where he helped to design the system supplying oxygen to astronauts.

Born to Irene and Samuel H. Davis, Sr. in Houston in 1930, Sam grew up with his sister Joann along the banks of Buffalo Bayou. His intelligence and hard work at Lamar High School earned him the opportunity to attend Rice University, where he made life-long friends and graduated with a BA (with Distinction) in 1952 and a BS in chemical engineering in 1953. From Rice, Sam went on to earn his doctorate from MIT before returning to Rice in 1957.

Those who had the fortune to know Sam especially admired his deep generosity, his acceptance of others, his positive attitude, his knack with numbers, his unparalleled patience, and his dry sense of humor. He was a devoted husband, a loving father, a proud grandfather, and a lifelong lover of learning. His quiet strength and resilience were also inspiring, having survived cancer, COVID, and a notorious fall off a mountain trail in Big Bend. Later in life, he loved spending every summer and fall at their house on Bungay Lake in North Attleboro, Massachusetts.

On his 90th birthday, when asked about his happiest moment, he did not hesitate to say it would be marrying Priscilla with their family and friends around them.

He lived a full and happy life of 92 years, leaving behind his beloved wife, Priscilla Jane Huston of 38 years; his children and their spouses, Merrill Davis and Nils Andresen, Kate and Scott Lambert, Penn and Debbie Huston, Allison Marshall, and Lindy Kottcamp; and his grandchildren, Cassandra and Tyler Maydew, Nicholas Kottcamp, Ashton Lambert, Spencer Huston, Benjamin Kottcamp, Gillian Huston, Meredith Huston, Duncan Lambert, Adam Marshall, and Nathaniel Marshall.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Rice Second Century Endowed Scholarship of Rice University or to Chemical Engineering, Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, or Shepherd School of Music. Gifts may be made online at giving.rice.edu or sent to Rice University, Office of Development MS-81, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX, 77005.

To leave a tribute in Sam's honor, please visit this website: https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/SamDavis/.
Deceased's funeral arrangements The Celebration of Life will be held on in the Anderson Clark Center on The Rice University campus on March 25, 2023.

The Celebration of Life will be held in the Anderson Clark Center on The Rice University campus on March 25, 2023.