Dedicated physician, soccer fan
Longtime Claremont resident and Pomona Valley Hospital and Medical Center physician Dr. Richard D. Davis died early in the morning on Saturday, September 13, 2014 at the age of 83.  
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1931 and raised in the Pittsburgh area, Dr. Davis graduated medical school from the University of Pittsburgh in 1954 and completed his one-year internship at St. Luke Hospital in Ohio. Deferred from the Korean War because he was in training, he spent the next two years in the Navy, based out of Camp Pendleton, California as a lieutenant assigned to the Marine Corps Base.
He completed his Family Medicine residency training at the University of Colorado in Denver in 1959, moving to Claremont and opening his medical practice with Dr. Walter McCleery in 1960. He practiced family medicine in the Pomona Valley area for the next 44 years, retiring in 2004. He was predeceased by his wife, Martha “Marty” S. Davis, in 1997.
Dr. Davis loved the practice of medicine, and established strong bonds with his patients. He also was very active with the hospital, and served on numerous medical staff committees his entire career as well as serving as chief of staff at Pomona Valley Hospital and Medical Center.
He and his wife Marty, a registered nurse, helped start Pomona Valley Health Plan and Valley Independent Physicians, which later became Inter-Valley Health Plan and ProMed. More recently, he helped create the Family Practice Residency Program with partners Duane Styles, MD and Greg Dahlquist, MD.
Physically active most of his life, Doc Davis enjoyed playing tennis and adult league soccer, hiking with his dogs and bicycle riding. He also enjoyed traveling, making numerous trips to distant destinations around the world with family and close friends. Soccer was his passion. With family and close friends, he attended games and held “football watching parties” for various incarnations of US professional soccer and 50-plus years of World Cup matches.
He was well known for his dry wit, self-deprecating manner, intelligence and matter-of-fact approach to life. To close family and friends, he was generous, kind and held a steadfast love for all. Even in illness, all these traits carried through to the end. Happiest spending time with his family and close friends, he particularly enjoyed ski trips with his children and grandchildren during the winter and beach trips with family and friends during the summer.
“Pops” or “Doc,” as he was affectionately called by family and friends, is survived by his mother Esther Davis (103 years old), by his three children, Beverly (Bev), Richard Jr. (Rick) and Lenning III (Lenny), and by his daughters-in law, Tina and Kelley. He also leaves nine grandchildren, Leigh Ann, Lauren, Ryan, Nick, Dani, Randi, Kevin, Hannah and Lenny, as well as great-grandchildren Kenzie and Carson.