James B. Davis, 92, of Lexington, passed away on Sept. 13, 2025.

Born in Jacksonville, Fla., to Jeffrey and Lillian Davis, Jim grew up in Tampa and Savannah before graduating from Springhill College in Mobile, Ala., in 1955.  He then served two years in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant in the Transportation Corps at Fort Eustis, Va., and GooseBay, Labrador.

Jim married Joyce Outten in 1958, and the couple moved to New Orleans, where Jim earned a masters’ degree in English Literature at Tulane University.   

After earning a PhD in English Literature from the University of Virginia, he was an English professor at VMI in Lexington for the next 31 years.  He was instrumental in the founding of the VMI Theater, for which he was faculty adviser for many years.  He retired in 1992 as chairman of the English Department with the rank of colonel in the Virginia Militia. 

Jim was a profound polymath who embraced learning and new experiences, whether touring Machu Picchu or learning the guitar.  He studied and loved archaeology, birds, sailing, jazz, Gilbert & Sullivan, restoring antique furniture, poetry, fossils, comics, and the cultivation of plants and trees, which led to his deep involvement in the Rockbridge Area Master Gardener program. 

Jim is survived by his wife Joyce; son Greg and daughter-in-law Beth; daughter Liza Davis; and beloved granddaughter Sarah Davis Masters, her husband Chas, and their daughter Charlie. He loved his extended family: the Outtens, Walkers and Stokes, and the Davis and Roberson families of Alabama, and was treasured in return.