DONALD JACK DAVIS

Donald Jack Davis (“Jack”) was born on May 17, 1938 to S.E. Davis and Oleta Fannie Kearby Davis near Canton, Texas. His family owned and operated a grocery, feed, and fertilizer business located southeast of Canton and later ran their farming and cattle operations in Smith and Van Zandt Counties. He graduated from Canton High School in 1956 and was the first in his family to attend college. He attended Baylor University, where he received a BA degree in Art and Education in 1959 and MA in Education in 1961.

While working on his MA degree at Baylor University, he taught in the Waco, Texas public schools and met the love of his life Gail Comer Davis. They married on June 2, 1962 and were devoted to one another for over 63 years. They moved to Minnesota together to pursue further education and where Jack received his Ph.D in Art Education in 1966.

They moved back to Texas where Jack began his professional and academic career teaching at Texas Tech University and started a family with the birth of their only child, Paul. In 1971, Jack began a distinguished 40 year academic career at the University of North Texas where he served as Director of Graduate Studies in Art (1971-1976), Chair of the Department of Art (1976-1983), Vice Provost of the University (1983-1993), Founding Dean of the School of Visual Arts, now the College of Visual Arts & Design (CVAD), (1993-2004), Co-Director and Director of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA) (1990-2011). During this time, he authored more than 50 publications and presented more than 100 papers at professional meetings.

He was also very active in professional associations, he was a lifetime member of the National Art Education Association (NAEA), where he served on the board and chaired the Higher Education Division (1973-1975), was named a Distinguished Fellow in 1989, received the distinguished Service Within the Profession (2010), the Lowenfeld Award (1990), and National Art Educator of the Year (2005), and finally the Eisner Lifetime Achievement Award (2024). As a lifetime member of the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA), he served as president (1987-1989), was named Texas Art Educator of the Year (1990), and was inducted as a TAEA Distinguished Fellow charter member (1993). Additionally, he received the Community Arts Recognition Award (CARA) from the Greater Denton Arts Council (GDAC) (2006), the Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Council of Art Administrators, the International Council of Fine Arts Deans, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA) (2012).

As a lifelong learner, collector, researcher and author, in his retirement years he continued his collecting passions related to antique silver, both English and American, Native American baskets, particularly those of the Southwestern tribes, and collected works by Texas artists with a special interest in the work of women artists, particularly those who lived and worked in Denton, Texas, culminating in contributing several chapters for the book Making the Unknown Known: Women in Early Texas Art, 1860s-1960s.

Jack lived his life spreading cheer through his lifelong love of entertaining and storytelling, particularly in his retirement years in Fort Worth’s Westbriar neighborhood and at the Trinity Terrace retirement community.

He is preceded in death by his wife Gail, his parents S.E. and Oleta Davis, his brother and sister in law LaVerne and Glynn “Bo” Davis, and a niece Paula Davis. He is survived by his son Paul (Colleen), his grandchildren Jacob, Reid and Hannah. He is also survived by two nieces Melinda Jones (Joe) and Cindy Dumas (Vince) and 2 nephews in law – Bob (Linley) Scott and Greg (Robin) Scott and a niece in law – Anne Scott, and numerous grand nieces and nephews.

A memorial service, followed by a reception, celebrating Jack’s life will be held at a later date. Details will be announced when available.

The family requests that memorials be made to the D. Jack and Gail C. Davis Dean’s Excellence Endowment in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas.