Physics Professor emeritus and former Dartmouth Treasurer William P. Davis Jr., who helped balance the College's ailing budget in the mid-1970s, died Nov. 27 at age 80 in Exeter, N.H. Davis held four administrative positions during his 30-year career at the College.
In 1955, Davis joined the physics department at Dartmouth after having been an instructor at the University of Michigan. He spent the next 12 years teaching and conducting research in the field of cosmic rays, becoming a full professor in 1967.
In the same year, Davis moved to the administrative wing of the College, starting in the newly created associate provost position, where he stayed for three years.
Davis also served as acting dean of the Thayer School of Engineering for one year during that time.
In 1970, then-College President John Kemeny selected him for the newly established position of budget officer.
Four years later, Kemeny promoted him to treasurer. In that position, Davis initially oversaw a troubled budget -- one that Kemeny termed as "the worst financial crisis in decades" in a 1974 speech to the Dartmouth community.
Davis was also faced with the financial implications of doubling Dartmouth's undergraduate population during the initial transition to coeducation.
His ability to handle these issues earned him the respect of his colleagues.
"I have tremendous regard for him," College President James Wright said. "He was a good man in a time of significant transition. The College was expanding and going co-ed. He oversaw a complicated budget."
Davis was born on Aug. 27, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of William and Vesper Davis
In 1942, he enrolled in Oberlin College, where five generations of his family had been educated, but didn't graduate until 1948 because of his two years of service in World War II.
During the war, he graduated first in his class at the Midshipman's School at Cornell University and went on to serve as lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service.
He was stationed at Pearl Harbor until his ship, the U.S.S. Manta, was decommissioned in 1946.
Upon his graduation in 1948, he enrolled at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where he received both master's and Ph.D. degrees in physics.
Davis was a resident of Hanover and Norwich, Vt., until he moved to Exeter 10 years ago.
He was an active member of the Norwich Congregational Church, where he served as a former deacon and Sunday school instructor.
Services were held Dec. 2 at the Riverwoods community in Exeter. Davis is survived by his wife Barbara.
