June 7, 2011

BALTIMORE — Cecil “Chic” Davis, longtime advertising director and general manager of The Catholic Review in Baltimore, died May 31. He was 71.

Davis was diagnosed with lung cancer in January after being admitted to the hospital in late December.

Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, publisher of the archdiocesan newspaper, said he was saddened to hear the news.

“Chic’s death leaves a tremendous void for those who knew and loved him, and for the paper to which he gave so many years of dedicated service,” the archbishop said. “He brought a level of expertise and passion to his work, and approached each day with faith-filled joy as he sought to proclaim the good news to the Review’s many readers.”

Burial took place June 5 in North Carolina.

Born Dec. 18, 1939, Davis was among the most highly respected members of the Catholic Press Association and was given its most prestigious honor, the St. Francis de Sales Award, in 2008. He was regularly honored by the CPA for other awards and also received recognition from the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association.

He led local, regional and national workshops on newspaper advertising for the CPA and American Advertising Federation, and served as a consultant to other newspapers, regarding their advertising and business strategies.

Prior to coming to The Catholic Review in 1999, Davis ran his own business, Davis & Associates/ACC Publishing. He also served as director of the Advertising Association of Baltimore for nine years.

Along with his friend Daniel Medinger, former associate publisher and editor of The Catholic Review, Davis helped develop the newspaper’s parent company, the Cathedral Foundation, into a Catholic publications leader.

Medinger called Davis “a generous man with a big heart, an energizing colleague and a great friend.”

Davis, a North Carolina native,  attended Dixon High School in, Pembroke State College and the University of North Carolina.

He is survived by his wife, Elaine, four children and four grandchildren. — CNS