We are sad to hear of the loss of an important member of our community.
Richard Allan Davies died June 10, 2022, in Willow Grove, Penn. He was born April 7, 1936, in Waltham, Mass., the son of Myrtle and Edmund Davies. He is survived by his spouse Rachel Spangler Davies; children Ross, Susan, and Michael; grandchildren Michael, McKenzie, Riley, Ansleigh, Rachel, and Richard, and great-grandchild Penelope.
Davies, who also went by “Dick,” attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Ohio State University before starting his career in education as a teacher and school administrator. He was the second head of school at The Elisabeth Morrow School after co-founder Constance Chilton retired in 1981. According to The Elisabeth Morrow School 75 years commemorative book (1930–2005), Davies replaced a legend, which could be downright exhausting, but his enthusiasm, commitment, and optimism never wavered. He focused on building a stronger, more professional administrative and educational institution upon the foundation of a highly successful school. Under his guidance, business functions were restructured, jobs were clearly defined, faculty and administrative staff were offered continuing education and training, and many previously informal activities, such as admissions and development, became well organized and highly professional. Most importantly, Davies successfully led EMS through its first accreditation by the Middle States Association in the mid-1980s.
“He was such a gentleman,” says former Lower School Math Department Chair Mary Ann Rota. “He always put faculty first.”
Former fourth-grade teacher Barbara Bhagia says, “I never forgot when he came all the way to Queens to deliver my paycheck when I was out for a week with strep.”
Physical education teacher Gene Love recalls how Davies helped make his first year at the school run smoothly after being hired by him in 1987. “His door was always open,” says Love. “He was an excellent role model for the 4 C’s, and he lived them every day.”
Current and former faculty members who knew him use the same adjectives to describe him: warm, personable, soft-spoken, calm, and caring.
In 1988, EMS created the Richard A. Davies Endowment to provide faculty development funds to foster the values he so cherished: the love of learning, sense of self-worth, and commitment to community.
Davies volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and the Red Cross. Donations in his honor can be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation or Habitat for Humanity.
