Davidson, Charles William

Charles William Davidson died peacefully Monday, Aug. 29, 2011, at the age of 93. A Memorial Gathering will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the University of Iowa Law School Foundation or the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City. Arrangements are with Lensing Funeral and Cremation Service.

He was born to Charles W. Davidson Sr. and Pauline (Schmid) Davidson on Aug. 24, 1918, in Salem, Ohio, and graduated from Salem High School in 1936. He attended Ohio State University, until being drafted in 1940, serving in the U.S. Army until 1946. He was most proud of being an instructor in the Field Artillery School and helping to merge the artillery glossaries of the Army and Navy. While stationed at Fort Bliss, he met Army Nurse and future wife, Jean Tisdale, dating her on Cavalry horseback. After marrying Jean in April 1944, he served in France until the war ended, returning to OSU to earn his B.S. in 1947 and J.D. from the OSU Law School in 1949. Following a one year appointment as a Cook Fellow at the University of Michigan Law School, where he studied under Lewis Simes, he was selected by Mason Ladd to succeed Percy Bordwell in property law at the Iowa Law School.

Property law was a lifelong interest for him and he derived great pleasure from long service on the Iowa Title Standards Board. At the Law School, he also developed an innovative course on Legal Ethics that drew praise from Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, and was among the first to teach a course in Modern Social Legislation. He served as the faculty adviser to the Law Review, learning even as he guided, and also taught Law for Engineers in the University's School of Engineering.

He ventured beyond the classroom to become general counsel to UI's Measurement Research Center and E.F. Lindquist pioneering work in automated scoring. He then guided the sale of MRC technology to ACT and served for many years as trustee of the resulting foundation. Convinced of Iowa's academic promise, he served on the Funded Retirement and Insurance Committee that since 1958 has provided retirement security for UI faculty. He was fortunate to serve as president of the Faculty Council for the 1958 academic year, allowing him to travel to the 1959 Rose Bowl with a winning team coached by Forrest Evashevski and led by Bob Jeter on the field. He developed a strong interest in fine arts, becoming a collector of prints and a founding member of the Print Study Club. These interests, combined with his other skills and generosity, qualified him to serve as the interim director of the University of Iowa Art Museum.

The health and reputation of the University of Iowa was a matter of great importance to him. As a young faculty member, he traveled the state to visit with legislators influential in budgeting funds to the Board of Regents. He was unofficially the University's counsel and close adviser to President Virgil Hancher on numerous sensitive matters. He was a long and active supporter of the University of Iowa Foundation (Presidents Club) and founder of the Iowa Law School Foundation in 1952. He contributed his time and expertise to major fundraising campaigns and was an active member of the Board of the Iowa Law School Foundation throughout his retirement.

As an early and forthright advocate for civil rights, he gave selflessly to liberal causes and religion, serving in leadership positions in the UU Society of Iowa City and the Unitarian Universalist Association. He was a lifelong supporter of the United Nations Association and more recently the Carter Center, ever optimistic that peaceful solutions would replace war and strife.

After his retirement from the Iowa law faculty, Charles taught at the Pepperdine University Law School in 1991 and at the University of London for another year. While he enjoyed these academic excursions, he returned to Iowa City and entered into a very active retirement. He served on the Board of Elder Services of Johnson County and for many years on the Johnson County Foster Care Review Board. He maintained active memberships in a number of clubs and organizations that nurtured his love of learning and sustained his personal connections up until the time of his death.

Charles had an opportunity to record a part of his personal story on the National Public Radio Story Corps series in 1995. Known to be a great story teller with remarkable command of detail, teaching was his natural calling and greatest gift. He felt tremendously fortunate that circumstances brought him to the University of Iowa which became not only his professional home but his personal passion as well.

Charles was preceded in death by Jean in 2001; and is survived by his three children, Carol (Steven) Humpage of Portland, Ore., Joan Maclin (Jerry Benda) of St. Paul, Minn., and William of Nashville, Tenn.; three granddaughters, Amanda (James) Masanz, Molly (Carlton) Oliver and Sarah Humpage; as well as two infant great-grandsons, Cameron Joseph Oliver and William Davidson Masanz.

Charles is also survived by his three sisters, Shirley Davidson, Jane Eckert and Marian Zeigler, all living in Columbiana, Ohio; four nieces and a nephew.

The family would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Phillip Schmid and Iowa City Hospice.