Dr. Thomas Arthur Davis

COLUMBIA - A funeral service for Thomas “Tom” Arthur Davis, PhD, 78, will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, 2018 at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church, with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. A visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel.

Born August 12, 1939, Tom was the son of the late George Henry Davis and Ellen Seegers Davis, died Wednesday, April 25, 2018, peacefully surrounded by family.

Tom was a 1957 graduate of Dreher High School and of the University of South Carolina, where he got his BS in 1961 and his PhD in 1967. He married Pollyanna Smith in 1962 and together they had three sons, Howard, Brian and Ivan, and two grandchildren, Patrick and Regina Davis.

Tom’s first job as a paperboy at age nine, lasted 12 years. His other jobs included serving in the U.S. Navy, Deering Milliken (Spartanburg, S.C.), Southern Research Institute (Birminham, AL.), Exxon Research and Engineering (Clark and Clinton, N.J.) Director of Research at Graver Water (Union, N.J.), Consultant and Expert Witness, Research Professor at the University of S.C. (Columbia), Director of Research in Inland Desalination at the University of Texas at El Paso (El Paso, TX). He was granted over 20 U.S. patents. Areas include wash and wear stretch wool process, coal degasification, cement disposal, hydrogen fuel cells and technology, liquid membranes, artificial blood, body molds originally for deformed torsos but now used to protect Indy Race Car Drivers, and a process to remove arsenic, saline, and gypsum from ground water, and an auto sensor for water softeners.

Tom, a pure tenor, loved to sing and the more varied the better: barbershop, grand opera, oratorios, Gilbert and Sullivan, chorus and church solos and choir. He was a charter member of Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, AL. He served as Deacon and Moderator in many churches through the years.

He enjoyed hiking in the Mountains, Scuba diving (Great Barrier Reef, Hawaii, Caribbean), boating and solving problems. He was a humble man with a delightful sense of humor.

Please sign the online guestbook at www.dunbarfunerals.com.