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Banner file photo/Kahn
Dr. Charles Davidson |
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Charles Davidson dies at 89
Physician, teacher was conservation leader
Michael Iacuessa
BANNER CORRESPONDENT
Truro and the Outer Cape lost one of their most distinguished citizens last week. Dr. Charles Sprecher Davidson, described by acquaintances as a hero among men and as one who went out of his way to meet others, left his mark on organizations as far-ranging as the American Medical Association and the Center for Coastal Studies.
Davidson died Wednesday at age 89 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. In his final weeks, spent at Pleasant Bay Nursing Home after breaking a hip, he had been overwhelmed by visitors, said long-time friend Robert Bednarek.
An avid beachgoer, Davidson had spent weekends on Cape Cod since 1971 and summers since 1957. His efforts locally became so prominent few seemed aware of the details of his prestigious medical background, which included teaching Harvard Medical School students and conducting research at Boston City Hospital for 32 years.
Davidson co-founded the AIM Medical Center in Wellfleet and served as a board member for several years until the clinic joined with Provincetown Health Associates to form Outer Cape Health Services. He also was the first director of the Center for Coastal Studies, a director of Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill and was moderator of the First Congregational Church in Truro.
In the early 1980s, Davidson, who was chair of the Truro Conservation Commission for 20 years, left his mark in the town by founding the Truro Conservation Trust. The Trust has since set aside 200 acres of open space in Truro.
Long-time friend and attorney Ansel Chaplin recalled Davidson's efforts in beginning the Trust. Just a couple years earlier, four acres overlooking Mill Pond had been donated to the town but when the gift was put before Town Meeting, voters rejected it preferring to keep the property on the tax roll.
'It was the event that led others to think we should have a land trust,' said Chaplin. 'Charlie was the one that followed through on the concept. I think he was probably the single most important civilizing force in the town of Truro in the last two decades. There wasn't anything he didn't have his mark on.'
Davidson, who stood at 6 feet 3 inches, with blue eyes and a handsome face, was easy to notice even if it were not for his warm and friendly nature.
'He was very outgoing, liked people, liked friends and was always reaching out for people in the community,' said Bednarek. 'He had a habit of walking up to total strangers and starting a conversation. He was always getting phone calls from people with medical problems who didn't know where to go.'
Davidson also sang with the Provincetown Choral Society and was a subscriber to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Ballet.
Davidson was also a tireless advocate of a wetlands bylaw for Truro, the only Cape town without one, but had less success in that effort.
He was born Dec. 7, 1910, in Berkeley, California, the son of Mary (Blossom) and Charles Sprecher Davidson. He was raised by his mother after his father died while working on a mine survey crew that was lost in the desert before he was born. He was educated at the Willard School in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley High School. He stayed in his hometown for college, graduating from the University of California in 1934 before obtaining his medical degree at McGill University in Montreal in 1939.
During his medical career, he was particularly interested in liver, nutrition and infectious diseases as well as patient care and he traveled extensively. He studied cholera in Burma, liver disease in Africa and taught medicine in Japan and New Zealand. In Europe after WW II, he studied malnourished concentration camp victims and assisted in retraining displaced physicians.
Davidson completed residency at San Francisco General Hospital in 1941 before taking a job at Boston City Hospital, where he did research, cared for patients and taught physicians for Harvard Medical School. While there, he helped care for victims of the Coconut Grove fire in 1942. Reportedly, Davidson was walking down the street in Boston and saw the ambulances and went to the hospital where his knowledge of nutrition was helpful in caring for burn victims.
After 32 years at Boston City Hospital, he became Senior Lecturer of Medicine at MIT and conducted a student seminar on 'The Art and Science of Medicine.' Up until two years ago, Davidson still taught a freshmen class at MIT.
Davidson also was chairman of the Food and Nutrition Board of the American Medical Association, on the Nutrition Committee of the Mass. Medical Society, a member of the Roxbury Clinical Records Club and William Bosworth Castle Professor Emeritus at Harvard Medical School. In 1991, the AMA honored him with the Goldberger Award in Clinical Nutrition.
He was also honored with the Award for Environmental Excellence from the Center for Coastal Studies in 1993 and for distinguished civil service to Truro by the Truro Neighborhood Association in 1985.
Surviving relatives include cousins Newton Booth Knox and Victor Knox of Maryland and Stephen Knox of California.
Plans for a memorial service have not been set but will be announced at a later date.
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Kurt Robert Ruckstuhl, 77
Mary J. Boyle, 91
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Mar 23rd, 2000