By the family

July 27, 2022: James Louis Davis, 92 years old and resident of Bronxville, NY, died peacefully in the company of his adored wife, Jane Johnson Davis on Sunday, May 29, 2022.

Jim is survived by his sister, Susan Mandelker and his nephew Scott Mandelker. In addition to his family of origin, Jim had two more families in his long life. He will be mourned by Jane Davis, his wife of 25 years, and her two sons, Kendall and Robert Johnson and Kendall’s wife Susan and their children Schuyler, Sloane and Bowen. He is also father-of-the-heart and will be enduringly missed by the family he raised earlier in Hastings-on-Hudson with Molly (Humphreys) Barnes, Douglass Humphreys with his wife, Katherine and children George, James, Olivia and Nicholas, Jennifer Humphreys, and Carolyn Humphreys with her husband Stuyvesant and their two children Molly and Wyatt. 

Jim believed that each of us can achieve our fullest potential. He worked hard to develop his own intellect and encouraged those around him to do the same, but he balanced that with a deep interest in psychology and was an early proponent of emotional intelligence.

Jim was born in 1930 and raised in Larchmont, NY. He graduated from Mamaroneck High school, received his BA from Yale in 1951, went into the Counter Intelligence Corps through 1954 and then taught English for five years before completing his MA and PhD at Columbia’s Teachers College. His focus on international education extended from his doctoral thesis to programs in Afghanistan and India in the 1950s and his position as Vice President of Columbia’s International House. 

Jim dedicated 33 years volunteering for the Hastings Youth Council, helping to create a safe environment for young people facing challenges. His work with the council grew and evolved over time, directly impacting the young people involved and the volunteers he partnered with, and indirectly benefiting the entire community. A room in the Hastings Youth Center was named in his honor.

A published poet, Jim valued language and communication and in recent decades created two groups for adult men to continue their intellectual journeys based on Benjamin Franklin’s Junto structure. Jim’s career also focused on education, with the addition of sales that helped feed his competitive streak when he wasn’t on the tennis court or cheering on his beloved Giants. He was named Salesman of the Year by his company at 86 years old, retiring only when his company was acquired the following year. 

Jim was a man who cared. He cared about the people around him, he cared about the society we live in, and he cared about creating a world where all people find opportunity. If you would like to honor his memory, please consider learning something new, volunteering for a worthy cause or finding your own way to make the world a better place. Contributions can be made to Friends of the Hastings Youth Center (https://www.hastingsyouthcouncil.org/).