Background
Davis grew up and attended school in Fairfield.
Davis grew up and attended school in Fairfield.
He graduated from the University of Illinois (Bachelor of Arts, 1928) and the University of Chicago (Juris Doctor, 1931) and became a lawyer in Rockford in 1931.
He was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court from the 6th District in 1955, serving until 1960, and was its Chief Justice from 1957 to 1958. He was elected to the 2nd District of the Illinois Appellate Court in November 1964 and was its Presiding Justice in 1967 and in 1970. From the 2nd District, he was elected a second time to the Supreme Court in November 1970.
He retired from the court in October 1975.
He was in the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and was a Congregationalist and Shriner. He was still alive as of 1975, but there is a record of "Memorial Services Held in the Supreme Court of Illinois at the November Term, 1976, on the Life, Character and Public Service of Davis" in volume 64 of the 2nd series of the Illinois Reports.