Terry College of Business - Fall 2008 - (Page 3) editor’snote Davis Chair is a living legacy to a legend On paper, it may read like a nice greeting. But as Terry alum Ken Jackson recalls, if you had the misfortune of arriving late to Earl Davis’ morning tax research class, it “was anything but a ‘good afternoon’ in college.” Jackson (BBA ’79, MAcc ’80) was one of countless students who learned over the years that when Prof. Davis said class began at 7:50 a.m., he meant it. Otherwise, you would get “the greeting.” But sarcasm over one’s lack of punctuality was nothing compared to arriving unprepared. Davis, a lawyer and former FBI man, grilled his students relentlessly on the work they were assigned. Mike Maxey (BBA ’75, MAcc ’76) says if Davis discovered you weren’t up to the challenge, he took you to task right there in front of your peers. “One day, Dr. Davis took a guy’s Code and Regulations off his desk, threw it in the trash can, and told him, ‘This is how much good it’s doing you!’” But Davis never demanded more from others than he did from himself. And, like the notorious Prof. Kingsfield from The Paper Chase, Davis was not only feared, but also revered and, yes, loved — though the latter feelings didn’t always surface until a student had survived Davis’ class or perhaps until they had secured a job. Whether it happened sooner or later, there was inevitably that moment where a tax class alum thanked his or her lucky stars that Dr. Davis had insisted on them being uber-prepared for the challenges of the accounting field. Davis, who passed away on Aug. 8, was known affectionately as “Uncle Earl” and he was held in the same esteem as fathers and pastors because he was a true mentor to his students. Walt McGill (MAcc ’80) says that Davis was, for all practical purposes, the career placement program for tax students in the accounting program. And you didn’t have to be at the top of his grade book for him to go to bat for you. A lawyer and former FBI man, Davis was often described as the “heart Davis endeared himself to students for his never-say-die efforts to find every and soul of Terry’s tax program.” He was a great classroom teacher — and, for all practical purposes, the program’s career placement director, last one of them a job. And he did it with little or no fanfare. “In the two years I worked with Dr. Davis, there were a number of students too. He will always be known affectionately as “Uncle Earl.” who were uncertain about where to begin, or they were shy,” says McGill. “And you would see him pull them aside, help them get their résumé right, coach them on the interview, and then call the firms to get them an interview. You would see those acts of kindness all the time, but he never advertised it.” Bill Lankford (BBA ’70, MAcc ’71), managing partner of Moore Stephens Tiller, LLC, a 130-person accounting firm in Atlanta, credits Davis for his start. “I have never had anything but one job [and] he’s responsible.” It’s little wonder that the man so often described as the “heart and soul of Terry’s tax program” inspired his students to make an endowed chair in his name a reality while he was still alive. According to Ben Ayers, director of Terry’s J.M. Tull School of Accounting, the endowment will help Terry attract the very best tax faculty — and that is a living tribute to a man who spent his life building a program with a reputation for its rigor and production of outstanding students. “When you think about the Tull School of Accounting’s tax program,” says Ayers, “for many decades you thought about Earl Davis.” And thanks to the $2 million raised by alumni and friends of the Terry College to fund the Earl Davis Chair in Taxation, we’ll be thinking about Prof. Davis and his legacy for decades to come. ■ jim kvicala “Good afternoon.” Kent Hannon khannon@terry.uga.edu Terry College oF Business Fall 2008 • 3
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