By Jenni King

Mark Wessel, dean of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, remembers Otto "Toby" Davis for his many contributions to the Heinz School and to Carnegie Mellon University.


"From its very first day (indeed, even before) Toby had a profound impact on this school. "Toby breathed life into many of the core values which continue to animate our lives here - not the least of which being the commitment of the institution to inclusion, diversity and opportunity for the most disadvantaged members of society," Wessel said.

Davis, the William W. Cooper University Professor of Economics and Public Policy, died May 9 in Florida awaiting a liver transplant. He was 72.

A Carnegie Mellon faculty member since 1960, Davis was a beloved member of the campus community and served the university in many ways. He was a founder and former dean of the School of Urban and Public Affairs (SUPA). In 1968, one year after the Carnegie Institute of Technology merged with the Mellon Institute of Research to form Carnegie Mellon University, Davis and colleague William Cooper presented their proposal for SUPA, and welcomed the first class in 1970. Davis was SUPA’s associate dean from 1968 to 1975 and dean from 1975 to 1981.

SUPA was renamed the Heinz School in 1992 in memory of the late Pennsylvania Senator H. John Heinz III who was killed in an airplane accident in 1991.

With broad research interests and a self-declared “disregard for disciplinary boundaries,” Davis held joint appointments in the Heinz School, the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Department of Social and Decision Sciences. Known for his broad academic interests, Davis’ research spanned several areas, including welfare economics, imperfect markets and the regulation of economic activity, and he broke new ground in the combined fields of economics and political science. He worked to foster racial equality through public policy and was an advocate of benefits for same-sex partners of Carnegie Mellon employees.

Robert Strauss, professor of economics at the Heinz School, called Davis "a creative force."

Davis was a fellow of the Econometric Society, a member of the Board of Visitors to Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base and research director of the Pennsylvania Tax Commission. He was a founder and president of the Public Choice Society and served as president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. He contributed numerous articles to professional publications and was on the editorial boards of several journals.

Davis received his bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., and his master’s and doctor's degrees in economics from the University of Virginia.

He is survived by his wife, Carol, three children - Craig Davis of Chicago, Wendy Hicks of Virginia, and Ross Davis of Connecticut - and five grandchildren.

The family requests that donations in his memory be made to Transplant Recipients International Organization (www.trioweb.org) or to Carnegie Mellon University.


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