January 15, 2010 Alan Davis of Walpole, Maine, was one of The Jackson Laboratory’s most dedicated and long-serving supporters. Mr. Davis was a former board member, honorary trustee, and at the time of his death, on Jan. 14, he was chair of the Maine Chapter of the National Council, the Laboratory’s volunteer organization.
Jackson Laboratory President and CEO Rick Woychik, Ph.D., said, “Alan had an intense interest in our mission and in helping us to get our message out, so that the world could better understand the Laboratory’s impact on improving health and alleviating suffering.”
Born in 1929, the same year as the Laboratory’s founding, Mr. Davis had a long and illustrious editorial and public affairs career, focused on health and medical science communications. Following positions at the University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and other academic institutions, he joined the American Cancer Society in 1967 as a science editor, and retired as vice president for public affairs in 1993.
During summers on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, Mr. Davis and his wife, Jeanne, became supporters of The Jackson Laboratory. In a tradition that continues to this day, Mr. Davis organized Press Week, a meeting that draws national science and medical reporters to Bar Harbor each year during the historic Short Course on Medical and Experimental Mammalian Genetics.
In August 2009, Mr. Davis won The Jackson Laboratory National Council Award for Distinguished Service. Today National Council Chair Sam Little, grandson of Jackson Laboratory founder Clarence Cook Little, said, “This recognition is so well deserved. But it can’t begin to convey the loss we feel personally, our sympathy for Jeanne and his family and friends, and also our gratitude for what Alan Davis felt and did for the Jackson Laboratory.”
A celebration of life service is planned for Saturday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. at Saint Patrick’s Church, Newcastle, Maine.
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a facility in Sacramento, Calif. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.
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