Medical School Icon Horace Davenport Dies

Horace W. Davenport, Ph.D., the William Beaumont Professor Emeritus of Physiology at the University of Michigan and former president of the American Physiological Society, died of complications of pneumonia on August 29 at his home in Ann Arbor. He was 92.

Davenport revolutionized the world of gastroenterology when he discovered the role of carbonic anhydrase in the parietal cells of the stomach. His findings led to a greater understanding of the gastric mucosal barrier which prevents the stomach from injuring or digesting itself.

Born in Philadelphia on October 20, 1912, Davenport completed undergraduate studies at the California Institute of Technology in 1935, prior to entering Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he earned a bachelor’s degree in animal physiology. Davenport returned to CIT, earning his doctorate in biochemistry in 1939.

One of the U-M’s most distinguished scholars and teachers and an icon at the Medical School, Davenport joined the faculty as professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology in 1956, positions he held until 1978. He is credited with rebuilding the department and making it one of the outstanding research and teaching facilities in its field. He retired from active faculty status in 1983.

Davenport influenced the lives and training of hundreds of students throughout his career, and significantly influenced the teaching of physiology worldwide through his three best-selling textbooks on acid-base chemistry and the physiology of the digestive tract. One of those texts, The ABC of Acid-Base Chemistry, published in 1947, is now in its sixth edition and translated into seven languages. In addition, Davenport published over 90 articles in scientific journals.

He also authored Not Just Any Medical School, the definitive history of the U-M Medical School during the period 1850-1941. Davenport had a longtime interest in the history of physiology and medicine.

Davenport held memberships in the National Academy of Science, the Council of the American Physiological Society, the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine, and the Society of Gastro-Intestinal Radiologists. He also was an honorary member of the British Society of Gastroenterology and received many awards and honors, including the Friedenwald Medal from the American Gastroenterological Association and the Ray Daggs Award for Services to Physiology from the American Physiological Society.

In addition to his son, Robertson Davies Davenport (M.D. 1984), and daughter-in-law, Nancy Wirth (M.D. 1986), both members of the Medical School faculty, Davenport is survived by grandsons Nicholas and Alexander Davenport.

Gifts in Davenport’s memory may be made to the Horace W. Davenport Lecture in the Medical Humanities or the Horace W. Davenport Scholarship Fund, or the Office of Medical Development, 301 E. Liberty St., Suite 400, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-2251. Please specify the Davenport Lecture or the Davenport Scholarship Fund.

—contributed by Barbara Wylan Sefton

Horace Davenport was profiled in the spring 2003 issue of Medicine at Michigan (“The Favored Mind of Horace Davenport”).

Also:

Castle Elected as Fellow of AAAS

Medical School Icon Horace Davenport Dies

Jay Hess Named Chair of Pathology

Alan Saltiel Elected to Institute of Medicine

G. Robert Greenberg, Early Leader in Molecular Biology, Dies at 86

William Beierwaltes, Nuclear Medicine Pioneer, Dies at 88

Dean’s Faculty Awards 2005

Faculty Members Honored as Inaugural Holders of New Endowed Professorships