Vale Emeritus Professor Jeremy Davis AM FRSN

The Society is saddened by the passing of one of its Fellows, Emeritus Professor Jeremy Davis AM FRSN, on 13 June 2023.

Jeremy Davis, husband of Jessica Milner Davis FRSN, was Dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management from 1980 to 1989, a mere four years after the establishment of the School. He brought to the School an amazing intellect, borrowing from his experience as a Managing Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (in San Francisco and Paris) and his training at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and, before that, at Sydney University, where he was a University Medallist.

His influence was profound in both moulding the culture of the AGSM faculty and in shaping the lives of the many students that he taught. His skills did not go unnoticed at the University level, and he was quickly pressed into being President of the Academic Board and serving on the University Council. 

For the past 40 years, he served on many Boards and government bodies, amongst which were the private equity partnership, Champ Ventures, as a non-executive director, and as a director of Transurban Group, Singapore Power, and the SP Ausnet Group. He has also acted as chairman of AIDC Ltd and Capral Aluminium Ltd, and a director of Nucleus Limited and the Australian Stock Exchange.  Jeremy Davis also served on the board of Pinchgut Opera for a number of years and became a Life Patron of the organisation.

Jeremy Davis was a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2008 for service to tertiary education, particularly as an educator in the discipline of strategic management, through a range of academic administrative roles, and to business and commerce.

He will be sorely missed by all his friends and colleagues at the Royal Society of New South Wales, the University of New South Wales,  and more widely.

A Memorial Service celebrating the life of Jeremy Davis will be held in August and all who knew him are warmly welcome to attend.

John Roberts AM FRSN and Robert Marks FRSN