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Jump to full article: Tobacco Control, 2009-01-23
Author: Michael Cummings, Ken Warner, John Pierce, Simon Chapman
Intro: Ronald Davis, MD, aged 52, passed away on 6 November 2008 after a courageous 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Ron’s star shone very brightly, albeit too briefly in the medical community. . . .
At the world conference in Perth in April 1990, Ron convened a meeting of 25 leaders in tobacco control, from a variety of countries, where the concept for a new scientific journal devoted solely to tobacco control was hatched.1 Ron and others helped pitch the idea to the British Medical Journal Publishing Group which accepted the concept idea and later appointed Ron as the founding editor of Tobacco Control: an International Journal. Ron served as the editor of Tobacco Control between 1992 and 1998. . . .
During his career, Ron served as an expert witness to Congress on public health issues and in litigation against the tobacco industry. His encyclopaedic mind made him a perfect editor and spokesperson on medical and public health issues. Ron had the ability to recall virtually everything in tobacco control, often producing obscure forgotten facts and papers that would perfectly frame an issue. As just one example of Ron’s uncanny ability to illuminate the obvious before the rest of us had seen it, he conducted a study to test whether people could read the warnings on tobacco advertisements shown on billboards littering the highway.4 Of course, they couldn’t as they were speeding by, which only helped to illustrate the stupidity of the government policy that permitted tobacco companies to advertise on billboards. We will surely miss his insight and vision. . . .
Ron’s legacy is much deeper than can ever be expressed in the many prestigious awards that chronicle his career accomplishments. As one of his many friends noted, Ron, in Buddhist terminology was a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who sacrificed his own ultimate nirvana for the benefits of others. Ron’s legacy is the example he set for all of us to follow through the strength of his character, impeccable integrity, graciousness and style, and his dedication to serve his fellow man.
On behalf of all whose lives you’ve touched, Ron, all we can say is we love you, and we thank you for allowing us to share your life’s journey. It’s been a privilege. You graced this earth.
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