William R. Davies ’44
William R. Davies ’44, a retired broadcaster and fundraiser for nonprofits, died on February 9. Born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he accelerated his studies at Dartmouth in order to join the Navy in 1943. During WW II he served in the Central and South Pacific as a lieutenant, j.g., on a destroyer escort and was among the first American military personnel to enter Tokyo Bay at war’s end. He had a brief stint with NBC Radio in New York City and then worked in his father’s family business as accountant and bank examiner until 1953, when he returned to broadcasting with WGBI in Scranton, then moved to Milwaukee as a broadcaster for WTMJ-TV. He served as CEO and program director for the United Presbyterian Church USA based in Beirut, Lebanon. He and his family lived in Beirut from 1962 to 1967, when they were evacuated due to the outbreak of the Six-Day War. After settling in Montclair, New Jersey, he was an executive in the United Presbyterian Church in New York City and worked in nonprofit fundraising and public relations for the American Social Health Association, YMCA, and American Leprosy Mission. He was a lifelong naturalist and an early supporter of recycling and the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay. In addition to Nancy, his wife of 63 years, children Stephen ’69, Philip and Elizabeth survive him.
