In Memoriam

James Ivor Davies was born in Winnipeg in 1921 and spent his youth in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 1940 he joined the RCAF and was shot down over Germany the following year and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. After the war he chose to stay in the Air Force and retired as Lieutenant General in 1976. His retirement coincided with hip surgery for osteoarthritis triggered by war injuries and he was invited to join the Ottawa branch of The Arthritis Society. He served as President of the Ontario Arthritis Society for many years and as member of the TAS national board as well.

Jim became the first consumer member of the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group (CMSG) created in the early 1990s. He never gave up his efforts to obtain a secure funding base for CMSG and promote the Cochrane Collaboration among Canadian health policy makers.

He believed strongly in the necessity of arthritis research and was a leading advocate in the establishment a few years later of the Canadian Arthritis Network as a Network Centre of Excellence. He worked equally hard for the creation of an Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) within the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). To quote Denis Morrice, former CEO and President of The Arthritis Society in Canada, "Jim was an incredible champion for arthritis! He made things happen! He was instrumental in our efforts to get CAN/NCE and IMHA/CIHR. You couldn’t count the meetings he initiated in Ottawa with key Cabinet Ministers and senior bureaucrats. Jim was the main reason for TAS support of the Canadian Cochrane Collaboration. He leaves behind a legacy that has a major impact on the lives of people with arthritis.”

Jim was not shy about confronting politicians, civil servants and the public to promote greater awareness of arthritis. He repeatedly wrote, phoned and spoke face to face with policy makers and others who could provide needed funds and policy support for arthritis research. His wife Norma lent her communication skills to the task and they were a truly effective team. Jim served in other places where his voice was needed such as the Council of Health Research in Canada and the National Liaison Committee of the National Blood Service. Jim and Ann Qualman were invited as the patient participants to attend the first meeting with TAS staff members to plan the creation of CAPA. As an effective patient advocate for years before CAPA was created, he was a wonderful mentor, a good communicator, always tenacious and articulate, always gracious – a man remembered above all for his integrity.

Jim developed osteoarthritis and hepatitis as a result of war injuries in WWII but he remained active until a few years ago when health problems began to take a greater toll. He was 85 when he died in January 2007. He will be greatly missed.