(Left) Engraved with ”Davies” and ”HKU”, The Davies Cufflinks were presented to Professor Ian Davies at his farewell party in 2002. (Right) Colleagues and friends at the announcement in 2018.
August 2018
Four years after he passed away, the executors of Professor Ian Davies’ bequest announced the establishment of a Professorship of Ethics in his name.
Dr Gordon Chiu 趙啟聰 (BDS 1987; MDS 1989), speaking on behalf of Professor Davies’ executor Ms Maggie Crosswaite, said that “Ian was adamant regarding his wishes on the establishment of an endowed professorship in relation to ethics, which he himself demonstrated to a very high level.”
Professor Rosie Young 楊紫芝 (MBBS 1953; MD 1959; HonDSc 1995) remembered first meeting Professor Davies when she was Dean of Medicine, and he became a professor in the newly created Department of Dental Studies in 1983. Professor Young said, “He was a patient listener, fair and considerate. And he made sure that not only justice was done, but also seen to be done. The disputes were resolved ethically to the satisfaction of both sides. In Ian we had a close and loyal friend, a charming colleague and a dedicated servant to the University. Today we witness another act of his generosity and affection for the University which was his home for almost two decades.”
Professor Davies was the founding Chair of Periodontology and Public Health at HKU in 1980. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry and Director of Prince Philip Dental Hospital concurrently from 1983 to 1989, and as the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 1991 to 2000. In the last two years of his Pro-Vice-Chancellorship, he also served as the Registrar, and was the University’s Vice-Chancellor from 2000 to 2002. He passed away peacefully in London on July 24, 2014 at the age of 72.
The Ian Davies Professorship in Ethics will be in perpetuity, to expound integrity, and the spirit and principles of ethics, and act as a knowledge exchange platform. The executors envisage that the inaugural incumbent shall be from the faculties of Business and Economics, Dentistry, Law or Medicine. Subsequent appointments of the Professorship shall be open to all faculties.
