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Shane Wyatt Davis ’94

A picture of Shane Davis

Shane Wyatt Davis ’94, April 16, 2009, at his residence in Chicago, Illinois, from suicide, following a history of depression. Shane came to Reed from Smithville, Tennessee, and received a BA in philosophy, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation, he worked as an office manager for a law firm in Portland, and then enrolled in a master's program in philosophy at the University of Michigan. In addition to teaching and tutoring analytic philosophy, Ancient Greek philosophy, formal logic, and English composition, he worked as an editor, writer, and researcher for authors and publishers of scholarly and trade-nonfiction. He completed his MA in 2000, and also earned a JD from the University of Chicago, where he served as articles editor for the University of Chicago Legal Forum, was a research assistant in constitutional law and in international trade law and policy, and a law clerk for the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship. He passed the Illinois State Bar in 2007, the District of Columbia Bar this year, and worked as a contract attorney for a Chicago law firm. While at Reed, Shane worked for admission and also as an intern for Nadine Fiedler ’89 in news & publications, writing press releases and pieces for Reed magazine. Says Nadine, “I adored him! I loved his gentleness and humor and his amazing depth of understanding and intelligence. We kept in touch through email all these years, but I didn't hear from him after late last fall. He would send me his amazing photos and talk about his theremin and all sorts of things. I really wanted him to have a long, good life.” Christopher Ellis ’93, who provided the photo of Shane for this memorial, wrote: “I'm speechless at the loss of a remarkable human being and friend. Shane was my muse.” Survivors include his mother and grandmother.

Appeared in Reed magazine: November 2009

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