Richard Davis, OCTA member dies.
Dee Owens
Richard Davis, OCTA member dies.
Richard M. Davis 1922-2012 Richard (Dick) Mercer Davis of San Rafael passed away peacefully on March 25, 2012 at the age of 89, after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. He is survived by his wife, Ginny, to whom he was married 62 years; his four daughters Alison, Martha, Laurie and Robbie; two grandchildren, Matthew and Anna; his brother Donald W. Davis, and sister Nancy Davis Fouquet. Dick was born on November 23, 1922 in Los Angeles and raised in San Francisco. He graduated from Lowell High School and UC Berkeley, and was a member of the Navy ROTC. He served in the Navy during WWII from 1943-46, rising in rank from Gunnery Officer to Lieutenant Junior Grade while serving in the Pacific. He returned to the States and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1948. Dick joined his father's San Francisco firm, Davis, Skaggs & Company, as a stocks and bonds salesman. He became a general partner in 1958, and in 1964 was named the firm's Chairman and CEO. The company grew and prospered during the 60s and 70s, opening additional offices in Menlo Park, Sacramento and Larkspur. Dick was active and highly respected in the investment banking industry. He was elected to serve as Chairman of the California Group, Investment Bankers Association of America in 1969. In 1980, he was named Investment Banker of the Year by the San Francisco Bond Club - an honor that had also been bestowed on Dick's father, George W. Davis. Dick was fortunate to have lived so many lives in the span of one. He was a devoted family man, adored by his wife and daughters. He was a cowboy who could ride a horse with the best of them. He was a successful businessman who, like his father, always put integrity, honesty and respect first in his dealings with clients and employees. He was a wonderful artist, using his talents to chronicle his early cowboying adventures, experiences while serving in the Navy during WWII, vacations to Pinecrest, Silver Lake, Europe and Alaska, and his many explorations of the early California emigrant trails across the Nevada desert and Sierra mountains. Dick couldn't read sheet music, but could play the piano beautifully, re-creating by ear tunes from musicals and portions of classical pieces. He was an author and aficionado of poetry, and could recite numerous poems by heart, sometimes getting a little teary-eyed when sharing a particularly poignant poem. One of Dick's greatest passions was researching and documenting the trails used by emigrants to California during the Gold Rush era. After a chance discovery of wagon remnants in the Sierra, Dick and his family spent many years horse-packing into the high country between Kennedy Meadows and Leavitt Meadows, combing through creek beds and canyons in search of the rusty metal remnants of wagons that had been abandoned along the difficult journey to California. Many of the found items were donated to the Tuolumne County Museum in Sonora, CA. Dick was considered a pioneer in his own right, helping to establish with greater certainty the locations of specific portions of the emigrant trails in Northern California. He published several articles on California emigrants in The Overland Journal, a publication of the Oregon-California Trails Association, and CHISPA, the quarterly magazine for the Tuolumne County Historical Society. The years spent in the mountains remain precious memories for family and friends who participated in the search for artifacts. Dick will be greatly missed as a wonderful man who valued family and good friends above all else. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions in his honor to the donor's favorite charity, or to the Marin Community Foundation, designated for the George W. Davis Fund, which will be used to support some of Dick's favorite charities that focus on preservation of early California history, the environment, and education.
This article appeared on page Z99 of the San Francisco Chronicle