MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fred. L. Davis, Memphis civic leader, businessman and former city councilman, died at his home Tuesday, according to a statement sent to WREG.
Davis, 86, founded the Fred Davis Insurance Company, headquartered at Park and Airways, in 1967. It was the first black-owned insurance agency in the South.
The same year, Davis was elected to the first Memphis City Council, after the city transitioned from a mayor-commission form of government, and in his second term in 1972 was the first African American to serve as chairman. He served for 12 years.
He marched beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike in 1968, and was on stage when King gave his “Mountaintop” speech days before his assassination.
Davis graduated from Manassas High School in Memphis and earned an accounting degree at Tennessee State University.
There, he met his wife, Ella Singleton Davis, the first black woman to earn an MBA at Memphis State University. The couple marched to desegregate public schools in Memphis.
Davis was a member, deacon and board member of Beulah Baptist Church in Orange Mound for 60 years. In addition to his wife, he leaves three children: Michael Davis, Marvin Davis and Sheila Davis.
Local leaders praised Davis Tuesday afternoon.
Congressman Steve Cohen said Davis brought people together and was a strong voice for Orange Mound.
“I’ve known Fred Davis for close to 50 years. There wasn’t a finer, nicer gentleman in politics and government during that period,” Cohen said.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said Davis, the former city councilman, paved the way for him and many others.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said Davis’s leadership inspired city leaders to name the Innovation Center at the Entrepreneurs Network Center for him, “where his clarion call for building black-owned businesses will live on.”
