David E. Davis - Background

Background

Davis was born in Burnside, Kentucky, on November 7, 1930 – in a house without running water, on a hill called Tyree's Knob. His aunt was Harriette Arnow, author of the best-selling novel, The Dollmaker. Davis graduated from high school in Royal Oak, Michigan, having failed his journalism class. He later briefly attended Olivet College. He worked in a series of jobs: as a race car driver, Volkswagen salesman, men's clothing salesman, ad salesman with Road & Track and assembly line worker in a car factory. He would develop his "simple, declarative style" working on aviation technical manuals.

Davis overturned while racing his sports car (reported variously as a MG TD or MG 1500) at age 25 in Sacramento – badly damaging his face. He lost his left eyelid, the bridge of his nose, the roof of his mouth and most of his teeth. In addition to the accident essentially scraping off half his face, the ambulance attendant had thrown away pieces of his nose. Davis required extensive plastic surgery – and was later able to hide his disfigurement under his full beard. He described the crash and its aftermath as pivotal:

I suddenly understood with great clarity that nothing in life — except death itself — was ever going to kill me. No meeting could ever go that badly. No client would ever be that angry. No business error would ever bring me as close to the brink as I had already been.

Davis lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his second wife Jeannie Luce Kuhn Davis. His three children from his first marriage to Norma Jean Wohlfiel Davis were Peg, David E. Davis III, and Matthew who is a European contributor for numerous publications, including Autoblog. He had three stepchildren – Eleonore Kuhn Snow, Vincent and Anthony Kuhn.

He died unexpectedly at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan on March 27, 2011 shortly following bladder cancer surgery.