Rick Davis, of Fernandina Beach, FL passed away peacefully at the Jane And Bill Warner Center For Caring on February 10, 2025 after a short battle with cancer. Rick was born to Ramona and Richard Davis on March 20th, 1943 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He attended Fort Dodge High School where he was very involved in athletics and student leadership as well as musical theater After high school, he was an honors student at the University of Iowa where he was President of the Student Union, Chairman of the Big Ten Student Union Conference, and Treasurer of the Sigma Phi Epsilon house. He earned a B.A. & M.A. in Political Science and Education.
Rick served in the US Navy before he began his hospitality career in 1972 doing group sales for Farimont Hotels in Dallas, Tulsa, & Atlanta. He went on to work at the Grove Park Inn in Ashville NC, before opening a hotel and then joining the Convention Bureau in Nashville, TN. Rick was then hired to build the Salt Lake City Convention and Visitors Bureau as President and CEO in 1984. A position he held until he had a stroke in December of 2000, and retired in June 2001. He was a consultant during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He also served as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Salt Lake City branch office of the Federal Reserve Bank and was Chairman of the IACVB Foundation. In 2008, Rick was inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame.
Although he could no longer swallow as a result of his stroke, he would continue to avidly pursue his passions of skiing hundreds of thousands of vertical feet a year, hiking in the Utah mountains and going Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon multiple times, while also traveling the world with his wife Dianne.
He volunteered for the Oley Foundation, a non-profit foundation providing education, research and support in enteral (tube feeding) and parenteral (intravenous) nutrition. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees and served as President for five years while being a frequent speaker at medical conferences, counselling other tube feeders, and was awarded the Advocacy Award from the American Society of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition. Rick also dedicated many hours volunteering for the National Ability Center in Park City helping people with disabilities learn and continue to ski.
Rick was an active member of the Episcopal Church throughout his life serving in many lay positions in the congregations he was part of across the country.
Rick is survived by his wife of 58 years Dianne as well as his son Matt, daughter in law Sara, & grandson Colin.
Please join us celebrating his life at St Peters Episcopal Church on February 28th at 11 am, reception to follow. In lieu of flowers the family asks that you send donations to the Oley foundation https://oley.org/page/supportoley